Bonus payment for referring a friend for a job - would you share it?!

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A few months ago, a colleague in another team mentioned that they were recruiting for a role. I said I might know someone suitable.

I spoke to a friend and she was really keen so I forwarded her CV. Fast-forward and she got the job with a decent pay bump over her previous salary. Really pleased for her!

It turns out I am going to get a referral bonus of £2000. I wasn’t aware of this when I referred her because I’ve only been there a short time myself.

So, my question is - if you were my friend, how would you feel about my windfall? TBH I am planning to keep it, but thinking maybe I’ll take her out for a little celebration, my treat? 🥂

Would love to hear perspectives.

YABU - share it you selfish cow
YANBU - it’s all yours!

Not sure why people are saying to take her out for lunch - the friend has got a great pay rise. They both won. Keep every penny and enjoy it.

No, the bonus is for you referring her. Re taking her to lunch I would be careful because if you told her you're taking her to lunch because you got a bonus for referring her you don't know of her reaction will be appreciation or greed and wonder why you're not sharing the bonus with her.

I imagine companies pay the referral bonuses in consideration of time and money saved on recruitment costs. It is an additional way they might pay employees for an additional service to the company. I don't see why you need to share that and essentially give her money for finding her a better paid job. She isn't going to be sharing her salary increase with you.

Keep and treat no need to share.

Well she got a job because of you. I assume she’s not sharing her wages with you. Keep the bonus! Your employer has saved recruitment fees which is why they are rewarding you. So not really anything to,do,with her. It’s between you and your employer.

Of course you don't share it
I hope you didn't tell her about it already

In the current economic climate, you helped her get her job. That is pretty major on it's own.

Put the bonus towards something important. Don't fritter it away.

If I was your friend I wouldn't expect any of the bonus, I would be grateful for you helping me to get a job. A little congratulations gift bottle of nice wine etc would be nice

You got this somewhere I worked before. Everyone always split it, you’re a grand up and so is your pal! Don’t see the issue here as you wouldn’t have got it if they hadn’t performed well at interview

My friend will get a 5k bonus if I get this job and when they told me about the scheme the first thing they said is "it's amazing because then we can have 2.5k each!". Maybe depends how close you are as friends.

This seems the best solution. Go out and celebrate her new job.

I shared equally with my friend when I got him a job at my company. It was only £300 and went through payroll so was taxed at my marginal rate. Think we ended up with about £80 each. I’d share but that’s just me.

If a friend referred me for a job, which I subsequently got, and she got a bonus for it, I'd be thrilled that she'd been rewarded for helping me out. If she was a close friend, i'd probably be even more thrilled. It wouldn't occur to me that I should have any of her money. I'd probably take her out for lunch to thank her for the referral.

I’d keep it and use it to pay off a loan I’ve got to be honest

Have you checked the details of the scheme? At my work referer and referee both get a bonus (on successful completion of probation) so no need to share.

Yes.....is she sharing half her wage bump with you each month (after tax)? No. I didn't think so. Don't share

Shouldn’t she take you out to lunch for being instrumental in her getting a great job?

Keep it for yourself but if you fancy treating her to something then that’s a lovely thing to do. You get the bonus, your friend gets a new job, everyone wins!

Don’t worry about it. Your workplace could have had a scheme whereby you both got some money after eg 6 months, which is what mine does. They don’t and so you haven’t done anything wrong!

No. Most workplaces offer this and you don’t share with the friend… you got them a job!

To answer some questions:

I think it will be taxed so any sharing would have to be of the net amount after tax.

The policy doesn’t say anything about the new employee passing probation or about the new employee also getting a bonus.

She hasn’t mentioned anything to me, but I am going to assume that she either knows or will find out at some point as anyone in the company can read the policy - which states the amount awarded.

We have been good friends for 10+ years. Personal friends rather than work friends.

With your update I’ll reply more. As you’re personal friends you don’t have to share anything. As you’ll be working together you could take her out for lunch when you’re working in office on same day or for a more lavish lunch. I’m surprised it’s not conditional on her passing probation but it’s good that it’s not. As pp said you helped her to get this job in this tough job market and saved your company recruitment fees and processes. If I were your friend I’d definitely not expect to share this bonus fee awarded to you. And I would be happy with a nice lunch as a thank you. Hopefully your friend is happy with that too.

She’d be a bit of a bitch and not much of a friend if she does expect to share it. So hopefully a 10 years plus close friendship means more to her.

I wouldn’t say anything

You got a bonus, she got a job!