The employers often face the situation when they have to refer their former employees.Giving references is done on basis of good faith and to assist their former employees to find a good replacement.
Making provisions for outplacement as a service and offering useful references to support the outplacement can be considered as a most useful procedure to help the former employees
You as an employer should be well knowledgeable about some of the best policies while disclosing important information about your former employees. The employers are not abided by any legal obligations to give references for their former employees and employers will do so for following reasons:
- Staying in good books of the former skilled employee
- To appreciate the employee for his brilliant work in his Company that initiated growth for the Company
- It was mentioned on the agreement at the time of termination
If an employer do not took interest in referring a former employee that creates a bad impression on the employee’s previous record. The reference provided by the employer act as a proof for the employee’s past performance and behavior within the Company.
But you should keep in mind that risks are always there in providing references. Adopting a proper reference procedure should be your policy to avoid risk.The policy will bring consistent situations by avoiding liabilities.You should design your policy in such a way so that it includes every clause like who can be involved in the referencing procedure and restricting others to intervene in this matter and what exact information should be conveyed and what not.You can adopt the practice to restrict information to matters specifically related to employment and can be validated by facts like written assessment of the employee. The information includes dates on which they have worked, responsibilities delivered by the employee, qualifications of the employee, grounds of improvement and quality of job performed.
You need to keep record of references both in written and verbal for certain specified period of time. There is no legal formality behind giving or taking references regarding employment. But asking for written consent from the former employee at the time of sharing information about his or her past records is highly advisable. The same is applicable for seeking information about applicants at the time of getting references on employment graph, academic qualifications and other activities.
Here I share some best ways of producing references
- Never produce any information which you cannot validate with evidential proof
- Comments should be made without ill feeling
- Avoid the question which you feel uncomfortable to answer
- Produce answers only for the questions that are asked about the former employee and that are relevant.
- Don’t comment something which you are not easy to talk directly to the former employee
- Don’t let your feelings to influence your statements and your comments about your former employee
Providing good information and references help the former employees to grab next opportunity.
