I need a little friendly advice from my fellow bloggers out there. It pertains to my work and referring someone into the company. In the past I was not a fan or referring friends or acquaintances to my employer for the fear of them not working out and perhaps making me look bad at the end of the day. I mean face it you cannot expect people to be perfect or be as dependable as you, right. I mean I do not miss work unless I am deathly ill or there is a death in the family or I requested time off, also I work very hard making sure I am doing the best job possible; not just for the company but for my own benefit. However I have worked with many, many people who do not practice the same motto.
However despite my fear of referring people I know – I took the plunge to help out an old colleague that had been laid off from work and was not having the best of luck finding anything. It is a very challenging job market and it is hard to get into a company today unless you know someone. I referred my friend over to HR and of course she still had to go through the interviewing process as everyone does, but she did very well and was presented an offer. After she was hired one of the other employees mentioned to me that we are paid a referral bonus – great free money! After 90 days you are paid $250 and then additional $250 at six months and a hundred at the one year mark.
Well I called HR upon it coming close to my friends 90 day mark and asked how they go about paying the referral bonus. She mentioned that she was not aware that I referred her, but she will go ahead and set me up to receive it in the next pay period which would have put her there for 120 days. That’s cool – I am ok with that. Well here is the part I need your advice on….The same day as pay day my friend was let go for lack of performance. She started at a difficult time and was just not producing deals – well many were not, but they let her go for some reason. They didn’t even try to help her – that irritates me. Anyhow needless to say when I got my check that day there was no referral fee. She was there longer than 90 days and at 90 days I am suppose to receive $250. Obviously at 6 months she won’t be there so I understand I will not get that, but shouldn’t I receive payment for the time she was there working for the company?
I put an email into the HR lady and now she is ignoring me. It’s a great professional company right? Well I want to collect this money if it is owed to me so I could use a little advice – what is your take on the situation? I feel bad for my friend and I know she put up her best try to make things work there. Something’s are just not for everyone…I wish her the best in her future endeavors and I will always be there if she needs a referral. What is your thought on this….? Any help would be great!
