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The Problem
Only 9% of Friendship Village’s hires came from employee referrals - limiting their ability to attract reliable clinical talent and reduce turnover.
In a high-turnover industry, attracting and keeping quality caregivers, nurses, and frontline staff was a major challenge for Friendship Village Senior Living. With just 9% of hires coming through referrals, most employees weren’t engaged in the referral program—or even aware of it. This meant the talent acquisition team was missing out on one of the most effective and cost-efficient hiring channels available.
Solution with Eqo
Friendship Village partnered with Eqo to automate & simplify the referral process and actively engage staff through SMS-based and Physical Marketing campaigns.
Eqo’s text-based referral platform made it easy for employees to refer candidates without logging into any system or app. The team used targeted SMS campaigns to keep referrals top-of-mind and drive participation. To further boost awareness, Eqo also provided them with complementary posters and signage that they placed throughout the community, reinforcing the program across break rooms, staff entrances, and bulletin boards.
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The Results
In just 6 months, Friendship Village tripled their employee referral rate, from 9% to 30%, cut turnover by 53%, and shortened Time-to-Fill by 22 Days.
With Eqo, they hired 83 team members through referrals, including:
- 25 Certified Nursing Assistants
- 7 Registered Nurses and LPNs
- 5 Caregivers
- 5 Certified Medication Technicians
- 31 Servers and Kitchen Staff
Friendship Village also achieved a 54.2% application-to-hire rate for referrals – far above industry benchmarks.
Plus, their team saved over 16 hours per month previously spent on tracking referrals manually on spreadsheets.
Employees embraced the new text-based referral experience, which continues to earn high satisfaction scores and positive feedback from staff.
One employee commented, “Love this !! Fantastic!!”
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