Money Moral Dilemma: Should I share my referral bonus?

Former_MSE_Nick

This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks...

I told a friend of mine about a job going at my workplace as I knew he was looking, and told him to put my name down so I could get the referral bonus. He got the job and I've been paid, but now I'm being asked if I'm going to share it - should I split it?

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Talent

Of course not and the person involved should not be asking nor expecting to get a share. That's not what 'referral' means! They should be grateful you thought of them, not putting you in a dilemna!!

robberbutton

My husband's friend got a bonus for referring my husband for a job - it never even crossed our minds that he might share the money, and certainly don't think badly of him for not doing so! We were just grateful for the opportunity. I definitely don't think you should split it - maybe buy him a "congratulations on your new job" drink.

telsco

No! Absolutely not. I can't believe he even has the cheek to suggest such a thing.

scoobydoobydoo

Err...no!
He has the job that he was looking for, which he wouldnt have without the referral, what more does he want?!

The brassneck of some people never ceases to amaze me!

matty_art

Everyone is jumping on the cheek of the referred friend, but to be fair, the dilemma does not say anywhere that it is the referred friend that is asking to split it. It could be other mutual friends etc who are asking and making OP question whether he should.

In any case, if you didn't agree to split it upfront, no need to share it but you could buy him a few drinks or pay for a meal out depending on how much the referral is.

emerald21

No . He should be thankful you got him a job. Not always easy nowadays.

Petaldust

Whether you do or don't share it, this should have been addressed and agreed at the start, before it even happened - not now.

tgroom57

The person(s) asking if you'll share the one-time bonus obviously doesn't realise that having a job and a regular income is a much bigger "bonus"!

It could be anyone asking, not just the bloke who got the job. Could be the boss, HR or any of the colleagues.

indiepanda

A former line manager of mine (and friend) got a referral bonus for putting my name forward to my current employer and he took me out for a very nice meal on him after I joined.

Although it the most expensive meal I have ever been out for (the bill was about £200) it wasn't actually that large % of the bonus he received as he would have got £3000 post tax.

However, every time since that we've been out (which is probably about once a year) he has also insisted on paying and refusing point blank to let me pick up my share (I've got good at finding places with good special offers on to reduce the bill so we've never spent anything like even half that since). I think he's still well ahead on the deal.

I think the key thing is that he would have put my name forward and would have talked to me about his experiences of working at the company even if there wasn't a penny in it for him as we've always got on well. He didn't do it for the money, and I think that's probably why he felt he'd like to share some of the benefit with me.

The other thing is I think I would have got the job even if he hadn't put me forward. I interviewed with peer companies at the same time that a head hunter put me forward for so I think if my CV had been sent to my employer that I would have got an interview with them too.

hyacynth_2

No, its yours!