Employment Reference Checks - Providing and Receiving
Posted: 11.24.2015
It is becoming more challenging for companies to conduct employment reference checks on potential new hires. Gone are the days when a former employer openly shared insights into a departed employee's performance and productivity. These days, you're lucky to confirm the basics such as job title and employment dates! Contacting a potential new employee's former managers, coworkers and even character references will hopefully produce the results you require but not always. Some people are very hesitant to provide any information at all!
One of the reasons for this shift is due to tighter privacy legislation resulting in reduced comfort level that once existed in sharing feedback on performance - employers aren't sure what they can and cannot say for fear of reprisal. Increased litigations are another cause for alarm in providing input on former employees. There have been reported cases where former employers have given inaccurate or even negative references, which ultimately prevented employees from getting hired.
As well, employment reference checks fall under a legal category of "qualified privilege" where the candidate is protected under claims where the chances of being hired were depleted due to a former employer not providing a reference of any kind. Even if a former employer is willing to respond to questions, at times the only response is a "yes" or "no" answer.
From the candidate perspective, this can be viewed as a hindrance in getting job as usually employment is pending on successful reference checks. Here are some helpful tips to remember when providing and conducting employment references:
- If possible, have the same representative from your company conduct reference checks to maintain consistency in questions being asked and to avoid miss-use of information collected
- When giving a reference check on a former employee, answer questions honestly, even if negative, as employers can only be sued if the responses provided are false and dishonest
- Ensure the person providing the reference doesn't have an axe to grind with the former employee as this may result in inaccurate information and potential litigation issues.
- As part of the hiring process, request the candidate sign a waiver stating they agree to release contact names and numbers for reference checks
- Ask open ended questions to avoid the straight yes and no responses
- Never gain a reference from anyone the candidate hasn't given authorization to contact - again use a waiver to protect both the company and the candidate
- Prepare questions in advance and be consistent to avoid discrimination issues if the person isn't hired based on the reference results. Reference checking is time consuming and often frustrating. It's a task that many don't enjoy conducting or will sometimes leave out of the hiring process all together. It's a small amount of time spent to persevere through this hiring step, as the outcome is valuable in ensuring productive members are added to the team.
