Employer reference

[RaspberrySnowCone]

Does anyone know what employers are asked when reference is sent to them? Is it just to check that you have worked somewhere to prove who you are or is it more of a personal reference? DH is a bit stressed as it would go through his HR department and they don't know him whereas mine would go direct to my manager who could give a knowledgeable reference of me?

It is quite factual really.
Mine asked for:
Annual salary
Hours worked
Whether my job was temporary or permanent
What my entitlement to occupational adoption pay would be

Oh ok, that's fine then, probably easier to go to HR then. Thank you for replying!

Same as below with a paragraph about our personal qualities. We had same issue with HR writing it and was worried but SW said while it was very minimal they had got so much from our other references it didn't matter it never got mentioned again...

Personal qualities from work? Oh lord, DHs work will probably say he's a moany old git :)

We were asked who our employers are and salary details etc but they weren't approached for references. I would have been very uncomfortable with them doing so as I didn't want work knowing I was going through the process until I had been approved.

Will be an odd one for us at this point because he's on his notice period with old employer to move to a better job in a few weeks but SW said current employer would be approached so they can't be too worried what they say

Just a note that if your work has anything to do with children they may ask more.

DH doesn't work with children, I work with people who have a disability but young adults upwards, not children.

Ours were asked if they had any concerns about us parenting children as well as the stuff above. Neither my dh or I work with children but I do work in a position of trust.

Ours was pretty detailed and I though it was a bit personal for an employee reference. My homophobic Christian boss just about managed to stay professional about her lesbian employees ability to parent!!

It's arrived. It was a bit more personal than I was expecting but also some standard stuff. My boss did it the second I put it in her hand. DH said we'll be lucky if his place havent lost/forgotten/shredded it accidentally within the month because he doesn't have a lot of faith in their HR manager.

Ok, another question. What if employer sits on a reference for months just because they are slow or don't see the point? Are there any laws saying they have to give the reference within a certain timeframe? Is it something a SW could chase. DH is leaving next week and after weeks he still hasn't had formal notification that they accept his resignation (given in weeks ago). Once he leaves he's said that they probably won't bother returning the reference or thy will just wait until he leaves then return is saying he's not an employee. Finding this bit all very stressful!

There's no legal obligation I don't think, though most certainly a moral one.
Can he contact his HR department, or ask your sw to?

Your sw will chase the reference, ours certainly did. A previous employer of mines took a few weeks so our sw chased it, then my husbands previous employer took ages (very large organisation and it was passed from pillar to post) so our sw called and emailed them daily for about a month and it finally came through

That's reassuring. DH has spoken to his boss. They don't have an HR department as such which I think is why things can be so slow sometimes. I'll ring our SW on Monday and have a chat. I think we just feel a bit vulnerable as our future is now in other people's hands so it's stressful, especially for DH who is intensely private. The SW team seem really lovely though so I'll see what they say maybe and perhaps they can chase if the reference is still outstanding once all the others are back in.