Medium Case Study

Medium + Boon

Medium is an online publishing platform. A significant portion of its talent acquisition strategy relied on employee referrals, which accounted for about 40% of Medium's yearly hiring. However, managing this referral system was progressively demanding more time and coordination from various departments.

Problem

The absence of a formal referral process created gaps in the referral tracking process which made it challenging and time-consuming to accurately credit employees for referrals. Limited visibility and updates on the status of referrals caused frustration and inefficiency. Manual tracking of reward payments led to delays and errors, and the shared responsibility of program maintenance consumed valuable time from multiple departments.

No Formal Referral Process: Medium lacked a clearly defined process for staff to refer candidates, which hampered employee participation. The promotional materials used to endorse the referral program lacked a clear call to action, making it difficult to gauge the program's effectiveness.

Manual Referral Tracking: Identifying and crediting employees for referrals was a challenging and time-consuming process. Medium relied on applicants to indicate if someone referred them, but the input requirements were not clearly defined, requiring manual research by the HR team.

Limited Visibility and Tracking: Staff had no way to track the progress of their referrals, leading to frequent inquiries to the recruitment and HR teams. This lack of visibility caused frustration and wasted time for all parties involved.

Cumbersome Reward Payments: Reward payments for referral hires were tracked manually, resulting in delays and even missed payments. The finance team had to be manually notified when reward payments were due, leading to administrative burdens and potential errors.

Labor-Intensive Awareness: Maintaining awareness and engagement in the referral program was so burdensome and time-consuming that the responsibility had to be shared between both the recruitment and marketing department.

Solution

To address these challenges, Medium adopted Boon's employee referral automation platform, which provided clear, intuitive and user-friendly methods for staff to refer their contacts as well as a comprehensive suite for automating administrative tasks.

Clearly Defined Referral Process: Boon incorporated a clearly defined, accessible, and streamlined referral process into Medium’s existing systems and promotional efforts. The inclusion of Boon's public referral form facilitated employee adoption and appreciation for their referral efforts.

Automated and Reliable Referral Attribution: Boon generated referral records when employees submitted referrals, ensuring visibility and eliminating the need for manual research by the HR team. This also eliminated cases of multiple employees claiming credit for the same hire, leading to fair recognition of individual contributions and improved user experience.

Enhanced Visibility and Tracking: Boon's referral tracker provided an intuitive interface for employees to track the progress of their referrals. Proactive referral status updates kept staff informed without the need to contact the hiring team, saving time and improving communication.

Streamlined Reward Payments: Boon's robust reward automation engine helped facilitate accurate and timely reward payments. The platform automatically applied the correct rewards to referrals and provided clear reward offerings to employees. The finance team was automatically notified of reward payment deadlines, resulting in zero missed payments.

Productivity Improvements: Boon's intelligent content curation and referral recommendations reduced the burden on the recruitment and marketing teams, allowing them to focus on fewer but more impactful campaigns. The platform's analytics dashboard provided valuable insights into the referral program's performance, enabling Medium to identify improvement opportunities efficiently.

Summary

Thanks to Boon, Medium was able to address the major issues that were hindering its referral program. Boon's public referral form provided a clear and straightforward path to action for staff, making it easier for them to participate and empowering them to send referrals confidently. The employees' efforts were accurately credited and recognized, fostering a sense of motivation and engagement within the organization.

The efficiency of Medium’s’ talent acquisition process improved significantly as well. The automated referral crediting and enhanced visibility through Boon's referral tracker saved valuable time for the HR team, who were previously burdened with responding to inquiries and manually validating reward eligibility. This newfound efficiency allowed the HR team to redirect their efforts towards crucial responsibilities such as candidate evaluation and onboarding. As a result, the candidate experience improved, the hiring process accelerated, and the overall time-to-hire reduced.

In addition to the efficiency gains, Boon's reward automation engine streamlined the tracking and processing of reward payments. This enhancement ensured that reward payments were made timely and accurately, eliminating delays and errors. The improved process contributed to increased employee satisfaction and motivation, as the staff members felt recognized and appreciated for their referrals.

In summary, implementing Boon transformed Medium's referral program into a more efficient, effective, and reliable system. As a result, Medium witnessed a significant increase in the number of referral hires by nearly half, while also reducing the time required to generate and manage referrals by over 70%. These outcomes demonstrate the substantial positive impact that Boon has had on Medium's talent acquisition efforts.

Results

Referral hires increased from 139 to 196, representing a 41% increase from the previous year.

16 referrals were generated within the first 14 days of launch.

Estimated 10 hrs saved per week.

Time to hire decreased by 33%, resulting in an average time to fill positions of 30 days compared to the previous average of 45 days.

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Medium Case Study

Problem

Solution

Summary

Results

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