CARE FRIENDS
EMPLOYEE REFERRAL
SCHEME RULES

Golden Home Care uses a platform and app known as Care Friends to operate and manage our Employee Referral Scheme..

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Policy brief & purpose

Our Staff Referral Scheme Policy explains important aspects of our staff referral procedures. We place great importance on referrals because we trust that our staff know what's best for our organisation and referrals are one of the highest quality sources of care staff. We want to make this process as smooth as possible for our staff and those who they refer.

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Scope

The Referral Scheme does not form part of any employee's contract of employment, or any casual workers terms of engagement, and it may be amended at any time and for any reason at our absolute discretion. We will communicate any changes to our referral programme clearly and in a timely way via notifications on the Care Friends app and through other channels. Staff who referred candidates before a reward was stopped or changed will still receive the appropriate reward. We reserve the right to remove the Referral Scheme in its entirety for any reason and at any time.

Policy rules

Who can participate in our staff referral programme? All Golden Home Care staff (employees and casual workers) are eligible to participate in our referral programme except for:
01
Senior Management.
02
Those involved in recruitment, unless it can be demonstrated that those they refer are an existing personal contact

Who can be referred?

To be eligible to claim Care Friends points, the following requirements apply to the candidates you refer. They must:

  • Not have applied for any job at our company for at least 18 Months;
  • Not be a former employee of our company within the last 36 Months;
  • Be hired as a permanent full-time or part-time employee (including on a zero-hours contract (with the exception of in the ROI) or as a casual/bank worker or apprentice;
  • Not be a temporary or agency employee, intern, volunteer or contractor;
  • Live within a reasonable commutable distance of their proposed workplace.
  • Be resident in the UK, eligible to work in the UK and not on the DBS Barred List (England, Wales and Ireland) or barred from regulated work by Disclosure Scotland.
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What are the referral rewards?

Golden Home Care will give out rewards to every referrer using the Care Friends app in the form of points. If you know someone who you think would be a good fit for a position at our company, please refer them using the Care Friends App. By using the Care Friends app on your phone, you earn points for certain actions such as sharing a job, an expression of interest being received from someone you referred, your candidate being successful at interview and if we hire your referred candidate and they start work with us.

What are points worth and how are they earned?

Each point is worth GBP1 when ‘cashed in’ (unless varied by the company with advance notice to you and before any payroll deductions, if applicable unless that is covered elsewhere). The points you earn are as follows:

  • Action Points
  • Sharing a job via the app 1
  • Expression of interest received 2
  • Candidate successful at interview 7
  • New starter completes first day (Min 8 hours and excluding Shadow Shifts and
  • Orientations) 60
  • Referred employee reaches 3 months employment 80

These are subject to the following terms:

a) Sharing: Each time you share a job via the Care Friends app you will receive 1 point

Note:

  • You can share a job advert via Care Friends as many times as you like, but you can only receive points for the first 5 shares you make per calendar month.
  • Shares should be in good faith with the intention of interesting a friend, family member or contact from your network in a job with us.
  • If we become aware of sharing that is not made with these intentions, we reserve the right to deny the provision of points, or to deny the payment associated with these points. It may also be treated as a disciplinary matter.

b) Expression of interest received: Each time someone expresses interest via the Care Friends app using your unique link code you receive 2 points

Note:

  • You still qualify for points if your referred candidate applies without using your unique link code, for example if they attend an open day or phone the office, but they must identify that they were referred by you at the time they first make contact with our company.

c) Interview successful: When your candidates is successful at interview, you receive 7 points

Note:

  • Only the first interview per applicant attracts points (so if there was a subsequent interview that does not earn more points)
  • Points will not be awarded if the applicant attends an interview for the same job more than once in a 12 month rolling period.

d) Hired: When your candidate starts work as an employee or casual worker, you earn 60 points.

Note:

  • The new starter must have passed pre-employment checks, references and have physically attended the office or work location for at least one full day of paid work.
  • Shadow/Orientation shifts are excluded.
  • The first shift/s must accumulate to at least 8 hours.

e) Stays 3 months: If someone you have referred remains employed or engaged at Golden Home Care for 3 months (and has not given or been given notice to terminate their employment), you will receive 90 points.

Note:

  • Care Home (Facility) Staff must have worked at least an average of 30 hours a week during the 3 months.
  • Domiciliary Care Staff must have worked at least an average of 25 hours a week during the 3 months.
  • Live-in Care Staff must have worked at least an average of 10 of the 12 full weeks during the 3 months.
  • We reserve the right, in our absolute discretion, to vary or remove the number of points allocated for each of the stages listed above and/or the different stages for which points are awarded. We will notify all app Users of this via in-app notifications. By continuing to use the app, you accept these changes as made by us.

f) As a thank you: managers and supervisors may reward you a varying number of points for non-employee referral related actions at their discretion.

Cashing in points

You must have 20 points or more to cash in

  • Once you have 20 points or more you can submit your points total for cash in at any time, however payment is subject to the following terms:
  • Payments are made as additions to normal payroll.
  • Points are converted at a rate of 1 point = GBP1.
  • All rewards are treated as pay and subject to tax, national insurance, and other applicable deductions.
  • Once your points are submitted for cashing in they are removed from your points balance.
  • Once you have requested a cash-in this cannot be revoked.
  • All points will be paid out on request.
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Termination of employment

If you terminate your employment and give and work the appropriate notice, and comply with your employment obligations and duties during or following the notice period, you will be paid for any points held in your account on the pay date following the termination of your employment. If you terminate your employment but fail to give or work the required notice period, or do not comply with your employment obligations and duties, you will be at the discretion of the directors and not receive any payment for your points.

If we terminate your employment (other than for redundancy or by reason of injury, ill-health or disability) you will not receive any payment for your points and they will be forfeited. If you are dismissed for redundancy, or by reason of injury, ill-health or disability and fail to work the required notice period you will not receive any payment for your points and they will be forfeited.

Additional Rules for rewards

  • To be eligible for reward, referrals must be made using the Care Friends app generated link or identified to the recruiter as a referral upon application.
  • The referral must represent the candidate’s first contact with our organisation or they must not have had contact with us for at least 12 months.
  • We guarantee that points will be paid out in the next payroll cycle after the date we receive the referrer’s cash-in request (subject to payment terms above).
  • If two or more employees refer the same candidate, only the first referrer (as recorded by the Care Friends app) will receive the points due.
  • Internal candidates are not eligible for referral or rewards within our referral programme.
  • A referral via the Care Friends app does not constitute a complete application. Referred candidates may be required to complete an application form and will be subject to the normal application process.
  • If a referral reward becomes due after you have left the company for any reason, the referral reward will not be payable.
  • Referrers are still eligible for rewards even if a candidate is hired at a later time or gets hired for another position subject to a time limit of 6 months from the date of the referral.
  • Referrals made via the Care Friends app expire after 6 months from the date of the referral at which point another member of staff can refer the candidate and gain ownership of any referral rewards that subsequently become due.
  • The referrer must agree to have his/her name used for introduction to the referral.
  • The candidate must accept the employee/worker as their referrer.
  • Referrers should be able to explain why their candidate would make a good member of staff if asked by the recruiter.
  • All candidates will be evaluated for employment or engagement consistent with our policies and procedures.
  • You must agree to the Terms and Conditions, Acceptable Use Policy and Privacy Policy of the Care Friends referral scheme presented at the time of opt in to be eligible for payment.

Notifications

To maximise the benefit of using the Care Friends App to both Golden Home Care and our staff, we may regularly or occasionally send push and or in-app notifications to our app users. By using the Care Friends app, you agree to this.

Notifications may be used for the following purposes

  • To remind app users of our referral scheme and to encourage them to share jobs.
  • To notify app users that a candidate they have referred has applied, or is progressing through the recruitment process and that the app user has therefore had the allocated number of points added to their points total.
  • To notify app users that they have been allocated a certain number of points for some other named reason such as consistent attendance.
  • To notify app users of any changes to the point allocations or other aspect of our Referral Scheme.