Should I share a referral bonus with a friend I recommended?

[Minorie]

Posting here for traffic. My friend was out of work for 3 years and I managed to get her a role contracting at my company. If she gets made permanent, id be entitled to a referral bonus. Its been 2 years now and she may actually get a perm role. Do people then share it with the person or keep it for themselves?

@ACynicalDad why ?
her friend has a job that she may not have got if she hadn’t been referred
keep the bonus

@Randelling the company needed someone quickly so i pushed her to apply as i knew she could get it because of this. She was literally in the office a day later. She's a highly qualified woman who i have a deep respect for. This role was much lower than she was used to but at least paid decently as opposed to £10 an hour cleaning jobs which she was doing for friends. This is 400 a day job.

You keep it. Companies offer it because it's cheaper than recruitment agencies, and no recruitment agency shares they payment with the candidate. Enjoy!

If you need the money then keep it but do something nice for her like taking for lunch or a nice gift.

It wouldn't even occur to me to share it. Why would you? It exists to encourage their employees.

I would give her something. Depends on how much you get. If it's £100 or less I'd keep it all.

This is how recruitment consultants make their livings. They don’t share a cut with their clients! It wouldn’t be appropriate to share it, but if you want to do something, take her out for dinner or buy her a bottle of bubbly.

Keep it she got the job.

It’s not unreasonable to keep it, although I know some people who have shared them.

I referred someone and I kept the bulk of it but spent some on a restaurant meal for both of us.

It’s your money, you earned it when you referred someone who became a permanent employee. I’d be quite critical of someone in your friend's position ie desperate for a reasonably well paid job, who then decided they should have 50% of the referral bonus. (I appreciate that she’s not mentioned the bonus.) As a matter of interest, did she give you a small present as a thank you two years ago?

@GloriousGoosebumps she bought me a sandwich when out actually. I think she feels embarrassed/awkward because she has always said people need to help themselves/hasnt really helped me in the past because she believes its more rewarding for the person to do it themselves. Im of the opinion that if i can help someone, i will - and i have helped a few friends get new jobs. I think she is a bit embarrassed because i got her the job in the end yet all her other friends washed their hands of her when she wasnt earning.

@Minorie stop concerning yourself over this. Concentrate on finding more people you can refer for more hefty bonuses 😂

Up to you OP, give her a share if you want but you don't need to.

Keep the money but take her out for dinner to say congratulations on perm role?

Yep I’d keep it but maybe take her out for lunch or dinner

You should keep it! And you already got her a job so you don't need to do anything extra.

3k? Definitely share. Your replies sound like you want to be told to keep it all though.

@MinorieNow that is a really interesting update! I truly hope she can now see how much better the world is when we all help each other. As for her so called friends, they weren’t really friends at all if her being out of work was enough reason to drop her as a friend. I hope she hasn’t been chasing them for their friendship!

OP, its your bonus.
And based on her view that people should help themselves 🙄, I think she is bloody lucky you are such a decent person.

It's YOUR bonus and I suggest you do not give it any further consideration.

Hopefully your kindness towards her will encourage her to have a bit more generosity towards others going forward.

And so she should, it's her money

Thank you! i dont think im any different - my friend has a funny attitude to these things and i think has been humbled by all this. Her friends havent been mean but at the same time havent helped her at all and were prepared to get her to clean at a low rate rather than help her get on her feet again. I know she's grateful for the job, but i didnt want to offer anything outright if i didnt have to. Ill probably take her for a meal or something.

No. They got the job and you get the referral bonus.

So she got the job entirely of her own merit.

You referred her and encouraged her to go for a job.

She didn’t only get it “only because they were desperate” (nice!)

if she was a very good friend then I would definitely give her a portion of it or I would invite her out for a slap up dinner with me and pay for everything

but you clearly don’t want to, so don’t 🤷‍♀️

What does your friend have a funny attitude about?

100% she wouldnt have got the job, or even any job as the market was so tough. I had to convince her about this because i could see she was depressed and twice she didnt follow up with my contacts. Only on the third time did she follow up, and because they were desperate, they took her-

not a tough market if the company was “desperate”