Referral at Rentokil Initial: the most efficient and cost-effective way to recruit quickly, anywhere in the world

• ‍Sector: pest control, hygiene‍
• Presence: over 90 countries worldwide‍
• Number of employees: over 65,000‍
• Foundation year: 1925

The challenge: large-scale recruitment of quality profiles in a context of strong growth

Ranked as one of the 25 most inspiring companies to work for in the UK, Rentokil Initial is facing a major challenge: recruiting more effectively in a context of exponential growth.

More than 65,000 employees worldwide, a constantly expanding business, the acquisition of nearly 200 companies in the last three years... all good news that nevertheless adds challenges for recruitment teams. Acquisitions, in particular, have added complexity to the Group's HRIS ecosystem.

We have legacy ATS from all these companies that we're trying to consolidate into three core systems.

Gavin Foley - Group Recruitment Marketing Specialist at Rentokil Initial.

Rentokil Initial's core model is based on trust. This applies to both customers (after all, Gavin says: “Our customers let us into their homes to solve their problems”) and employees. In such a model, recommendations are extremely powerful, not to say essential.

That's why Rentokil Initial's journey with CleverConnect began in 2020 with the implementation of a digitalized referral program. It was the quickest, cheapest and most effective way to meet the challenges of recruiting a variety of profiles:

• mainly technicians, working at customers' houses and sites,
• but also a very large sales force,
• as well as many profiles from head office.

Implementation: a gamified referral system with CleverConnect

Rentokil Initial has integrated CleverConnect's referral platform into its Talent Acquisition strategy, initially in Europe, before extending it worldwide. This scalable solution relies on the power of internal recommendations: who better than employees to identify talent that meets the company's challenges and values?

The implementation was supported by several relevant initiatives, made possible thanks to the platform's key features:

• Gamification of referrals: Employees earn points for each recommendation made or share action. These points can be exchanged for rewards. This has generated a great deal of interest and has helped to anchor the referral process in the corporate culture.
• Integration with Group career sites: A banner is visible on career sites, inviting external visitors to refer friends and colleagues, thus increasing the flow of external applications.
• Data analysis and learning: CleverConnect provides detailed reports to identify the most referred positions, the most active employees and the geographical areas with the greatest potential.

The results: a spectacular improvement in recruitment quality and efficiency

The results speak for themselves. Currently, 30% of Rentokil Initial's worldwide applications come from referrals. In some countries, this figure is even higher: 40% in the Philippines and 35% in Malaysia, to name but two examples.

“Not only are we receiving more applications, they're also of much higher quality,” Gavin points out.

• Faster recruitment: referrals enable recruitment for critical positions, especially in key geographical areas.
• Improved quality of hire: referred candidates integrate more easily, resulting in higher retention rates.
• Enhanced employee commitment: gamification and the collaborative aspect of the process have created a very positive dynamic within the teams. “The platform is incredibly user-friendly, and our staff love it,” explains Gavin.

With CleverConnect, success is also based on the mobile app: our employees around the world participate easily regardless of their location and access to office tools.

Some figures to remember:

• > 21,000 registered employees
• + 1.2 million views on job offers.
• + More than 215,000 recommendations and more than 80,000 applications, for 4,200 recruitments.
• Time to Hire is less than 90 days.
• Every 2 minutes, a job offer is clicked on via the platform...
• And there's an application every 20 minutes!

CleverConnect is our partner for Employee Referrals and it is our second hiring source behind Indeed with 30% of our global applications coming via employee referrals and their platform. I would highly recommend it as a great tool for businesses with limited budget that want to do more with less. The ROI is off the charts compared to other suppliers.

Based on this success, Rentokil Initial is exploring other uses for the CleverConnect referral platform, in particular to identify high-potential internal talent and optimize internal mobility. Integration with other HR systems is also planned to further strengthen their employer branding strategy.

Adopting the CleverConnect referral platform helped Rentokil Initial to meet its recruitment needs while consolidating its people-centered, trust-based culture. Because recommending is above all a question of trust!