A lowly customer service agent will fetch $1,000 and a programmer's head is worth about $4,000 -- but WebHosting.Com Inc. will pay out a sweet $10,000 for any referral that nabs this Internet company a new vice-president.
The hefty rewards are part of WebHosting.Com's new "Friends for Cash" employee recruitment program, open to anybody -- from employees to complete strangers -- who connects the company with a potential hire.
One of the first rewards will go to Jason Baldemor, a 24-year-old billing representative who passed along friend Tricia Ayotte's résumé. Ms. Ayotte, 21, begins a job as technical customer service agent this month, after which Mr. Baldemor gets his $1,000.
"I was just trying to help a friend out," said Mr. Baldemor, adding that the money is a good motivator.
As demand for skilled workers in the high-tech sector continues to rocket, an increasing number of companies are being forced to come up with new methods of recruitment to meet their staffing needs.
"It's not tough to find workers, it's tough to find qualified skilled workers," said Mary Kovacs, human resources manager and creator of the referral program.
"When people are being referred they tend to be people working in the industry already, so at least they have some prior work experience," she said. "But hopefully the general public will be referring skilled workers as well."
The Toronto-based Internet firm -- in the business of hosting Web sites and other applications on its network -- has put no restrictions on who can submit a referral, how many times a person can refer, or how much referral money a person can make.
"This could cost us a ton of money. But then again, so does anything regarding recruitment," Ms. Kovacs said.
The idea of giving referral fees is far from new. Nortel Networks Corp. of Brampton, Ont., has had a program for years that pays employees between $500 (U.S.) and $1,500 for a successful referral.
Mitel Corp. was one of the first Canadian high-technology companies to launch a recruitment reward campaign in the heady days of its growth in 1982.
The Kanata, Ont.-based telephone equipment maker, then run by Michael Cowpland and Terry Matthews, offered a $25,000 stainless steel De Lorean sports car to an employee who could recruit the most new workers.
The difference with WebHosting.Com's strategy is that it is extending its program externally, meaning it will also take referrals and pay out rewards to the general public.