Worldline: Reinventing Global Employee Referrals for Scalable Impact

‍Sector: FinTech
Global Presence: 40+ countries worldwide
Employees: 18,000
Customer since 2013

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The Challenge: Fragmented Referral Processes Across 40 Markets

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Prior to partnering with CleverConnect, Worldline’s employee referral processes were manual and country-specific. Each market had its own way of managing referrals—some used spreadsheets, and incentive structures varied wildly or were even non-existent.

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“We already knew that employee referrals offered great recruitment potential. Our goal with CleverConnect was to unify processes across countries and make the whole process trackable to be able to measure and optimise.”
—  Luca Beck, Global TA Enablement & Innovation Manager

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The Solution: A Global, Scalable, and Secure Referral Platform

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After a competitive RFP process involving several providers, Worldline selected CleverConnect for its ability to deliver:
A globally scalable solution with the flexibility to serve 40 markets

• A globally scalable solution with the flexibility to serve 40 markets
• Full SSO and SAP integration, aligning with Worldline’s security standards
• High data synchronization intervals for real-time status checks
• Customizable fields and workflows to adapt to local needs while maintaining global standards

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“As a global player, Worldline has to take into account local needs and preferences in oder to make a referral program work. CleverConnect is not only a tool. They are our partner to help define the referral strategy and integrate deeply into our existing systems.”
—  Luca Beck

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CleverConnect’s referral module was easy to implement, offered real-time insights, and provided complete technical and governance alignment with Worldline’s internal infrastructure.

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The Impact: Dramatically Better Hiring Efficiency and Quality

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Since rolling out CleverConnect’s Employee Referral platform, Worldline has seen remarkable improvements in core recruiting KPIs:

• 3 digit amount of hires in the first rollout wave over 12 months
• Hire rate of 3 to 4 times higher than other channels
• Cost-to-hire heavily reduced compared to normal hires
• Time-to-hire significantly reduced
• Candidate quality improved, often allowing hiring managers to skip one interview step

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“We were impressed. Cost-to-hire went down, quality went up, and referrals became one of our top hiring channels.”
—  Luca Beck

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Key Learnings: Standardization and Communication Are Crucial

• Avoid over-localization: too many country-specific rules confuse users.
• Centralize payout management: leaving it to local HR Ops created complexity.
• Define a clear, unified payout structure and only adjust payout rates per country.

“Referral success is tied to how easy it is for employees to engage. CleverConnect helps us run employer branding campaigns directly through the platform, which drives real adoption.”
—  Luca Beck

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Conclusion

For Worldline, we significantly improved the efficiency of their global employee referral program right from the rollout and trial phase. One of the standout achievements was the success of the Story Module.
It quickly established itself as a powerful employer branding tool, enabling employees across multiple countries to easily share curated content within their personal networks. Its adoption even exceeded that of Worldline’s dedicated internal communications platform, which had originally been introduced for the same purpose.
With CleverConnect, Worldline didn’t just implement a high-performing referral solution—they also unlocked a new channel for employer visibility and brand engagement, all within a single platform.

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