Worried bosses state the facts

Employers are so concerned about being sued over references that many are scared to state more than basic facts, say recruitment experts.

Employers are increasingly at risk of being sued for damages if inaccurate, defamatory or misleading information is included in a reference for a past employee.

This has left employers vulnerable and many are opting to simply give statements of service rather than a full reference.

Jenny Cainer, founding director of Marketing Professionals UK, a marketing recruitment agency says that this trend is making references
worthless:

We see hundreds of references and most arenít worth the paper theyíre written on. Employers are so scared of saying the wrong thing that references are given out by personnel, not line managers, and they are only able to confirm employment dates and statistics such as number of sick days. They are not able to comment either way on performance as they were not the direct line manager so ísatisfactoryí is as good as it gets.

This information is little use to a future employer as they are often non-the-wiser having read such a reference and it can only be to the detriment of the candidate (and future employer) who anticipates they will get a glowing recommendation from their referee.

The right questions need to be asked in the interview stages to sort the wheat from the chaff. Employers should never solely rely on references to make up their mind about a candidate.