Employee Reference Forms

assuredhr

Looking for some feed back about employee references at time or hire.

We are a health care agency and we currently require 2 work references before offering employment. Some of the management staff are wanting to change this process and hire without references because it takes to long to get them back.

Curious what everyone else does?

Judith

I would definetly require references in the health care industry -- if you hire w/o references and something happens to one of your patients and then info comes out (thatyou would have known from a reference) you will not have a leg to stand on -- legally or ethically. There are a lot of ways to expedite references and supervisors need to work within the process. When I worked in a public agency my managers got anxious over the process because they did not do their part until they need the person in the door. When I addressed this head on with my boss the "emergencies" had to be documented and valid. If not they stewed in their own mess. Took a short time to fix. If you have a good process get it honored. Good luck!

assuredhr

Judith,
Thank you for the info. We will be working on a process.

HRQ

We require two written personal non-relative, two written professional references. Because we had really weak response rate to the written requests, we've started calling each reference first, asking the questions on the form, then advising them we'd follow up with the written request.

Making the phone calls first has really made a difference with getting the written responses.

Don D

This is one of those occasions when I would ask my famous question: "What's the worst thing that can happen if I do this?"

It's also a good time to ask 'them' to give you two good reasons why their suggestion is a good idea. The only one they will be able to give you is: "Well, it'll get people on the floor quicker." And that's not a good reason to do it.

ScorpioHR

I too am in the healthcare industry, and, I have to say there is NO way I would hire a technologist particularly without checking everything! I have a form I fax, the prospective ee fills it out, signs it-I then fax it to the applicable party-I cannot say I do not get responses. 99% of the time, they fax it back to me-I also check their State licences, I check their ASRT standing. I had one MRI tech I was going to hire, everything looked good. Then, I got his reference back from his previous position, he had stated on his app that he was "laid off" - The form came back and he had actually been fired for FALLING ASLEEP with the MRI running and patients on the table....Check references, if not, be prepared to defend your poor hiring practices. jmho