Nearly 40 percent of human resource (HR) professionals say they have increased the amount of time they spend performing reference checks for potential employees over the last three years, according to a survey released by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
According to this survey, most organizations perform reference checks and 73 percent of these companies report reference checking is somewhat or very effective in identifying poor performers.
“Being able to identify unqualified candidates during the recruiting process saves organizations time and money,” says Susan Meisinger, SHRM president and chief executive officer.
Those responding to the SHRM survey said reference checks help find inconsistencies in areas including certifications, eligibility to work in the United States, degrees conferred, schools attended and malpractice or professional disciplinary action. Almost half of survey respondents said the most common inconsistencies found during reference checks deal with the potential employee’s dates of previous employment, criminal record, former job titles and past salaries.
Organizations are responsible for checking references of potential employees but are also asked to provide reference information for former employees. However, due to a fear of liability, 54 percent of organizations have policies to not provide employee references, says SHRM. In spite of this, SHRM reports 75 percent of HR professionals believe their organizations would share more information about current and former employees if there were laws clearly protecting them from liability.
A total of 345 responses from a random sample of SHRM members were used in the survey.
