Charity not giving references to Volunteers

[dottypotter]

AIBU to think a charity should give a reference to a long term volunteer. Have volunteered for a charity for a long time and been reliable etc and was told yesterday that the charity dont give references. They will only confirm you worked there and the duties you did. Anyone else heard of this and why is that? How will that help you if you need to give charity as a reference? Is it right and who decided that?

A law exempting references from libel or other legal action would be the way forward but it will never happen.

The problem with that would be you would be putting people at the whim of the reference writer in their department. To get round that it would have to be HR personnel who wrote it, but they wouldn’t know the ins and outs of the person unless it was a very small company.

Totally normal in my line of work, they say something like:

Name
Start date - end date
Contact details for the org

That's it, it's a short bit of paper whether you were there 5 days as a cleaner or 50 years as a senior manager!

We're not permitted to veer from that as managers, for legal reasons (Don't want any legal risk).

I could do a personal one if a very good staff member asked me, but it cannot be as a representative of the org, and it would be a discipline matter if I wrote anything which says it's the view of our employer or used their stationary or logo .. it would just be a letter like a friend would do, hand written and signed off as a friend NOT the boss.

I've only ever done one personal reference (i.e. Letter) before, but that was when someone went off to apply to a specialist career where I spoke as a character reference than as a work reference... Think of something like someone applying to uni as a mature student on a competitive course, that's the type of thing.

Dates and duties is find. Employers know that many other employers have a policy to only do basic bare facts like this. It won't jeopardise your employability.

What if people are using their voluntary work as a reference though and they haven't got anyone they can ask other than where they volunteet

It's pretty standard now OP, they may ask for a character reference which it more about you as a person.
Then that's on the individual, but for a professional one that's all anyone will give.

You can't give a bad reference, (not sure if this is a legal thing or just always been told to help protect the business) if they don't get the job because of it then it comes back on the company.
When I've hired I've gone on the first and second interview, trial shift, gut feeling and then reference is just a box ticking exercise.

There's a reason there's a probation period if someone has massively bluffed their way through

It's normal now, most places will not give a character reference, even paid work

Most employers will only confirm your role. Some will say whether or not you would be eligible for rehire.

They don’t want to get sued for giving a bad reference.

I manage volunteers regionally for a national charity and that is all we can provide in terms of a reference for volunteers. We brought it in around 6 years ago in line with the staff policy. It’s also all that we’d expect to see when requesting a reference for staff or volunteers.

"They will only confirm you worked there and the duties you did"

That is all most companies will now give. Most don't allow managers to give personal references as it's a waste of company time and all the new company need to know is that your job history is truthful.

”What if people are using their voluntary work as a reference though and they haven't got anyone they can ask other than where they volunteer”

The same applies to everyone, it doesn’t matter whether you are being paid for the work or not. Take out the word “voluntary” from your sentence above, and replace “volunteer” with “work”.

The fact you are volunteering rather than being paid doesn’t change the issue.

It's still a reference. It's the same as you'd get as an employee, so it makes no difference to your application process. It's what employers will expect.

Unless you are specifically being asked for character references? In which case they'd have to come from individuals not organisations anyway.

You are getting a reference. Just like everyone else. Stop worrying.

Bumble it’s not true that you can’t give a bad reference. You absolutely can. The obligation is to give a balanced and fair one. This can become a minefield which is why companies issue standard ones a lot now

Op that's all most companies will give. Not just to volunteers but to employees too. I've worked for my company (banking) for 9 years and that's all I'd get.

Very few employers give proper references anymore.
Date started, date finshed. Job title.
That's it
Too worried about being sued.and that's before bloody gdpr

References have tightened up in the last 10 years or so. When I was young we used to 'collect' references as any employer - a charity would have done it too - would give you an 'all-purpose' reference you could use anywhere. Some people I know amassed quite a collection of them!

But now, most employers will only respond to a direct request from a potential employer. And even then, it often has to be in the form of ticking boxes or filling in a form, rather than "Iced Purple was a wonderful employee who got on with everyone" type of thing. Probably for boring legal reasons.

Standard reference where I work

It’s a basic reference and it’s fine.

My office only give these as standard for legal reasons.

@Deliheaven Good to know, the companies I've always worked for have had that policy, I assume because it can open a can of worms they don't want to deal with.

I've either only ever seen the basic reference or declined to give, which is as good as a bad one. Never seen a company give a bad one

I am a charity chief executive . As an organisation, we give a standard reference – name, dates of service (paid or voluntary) and role/job title. If asked we will also answer a question about whether or not there were any disciplinary matters outstanding at the time of departure. We will not give details to the last question, just a simple yes or no answer.

Individual line managers are welcome to provide personal references which make it clear how they have known the individual. However, they also have to make it clear that they are giving the reference in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the charity.

To be honest, as long as I receive a basic reference and get an answer to the disciplinary question, I am happy as an employer. We all have many reasons for leaving employment. Even if things haven’t worked out at one place, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it won’t work elsewhere and I have more faith in my own recruitment processes and judgements of the hiring managers than I do in a piece of paper from someone I’ve never met.

Even if there is outstanding disciplinary action, that wouldn’t automatically proclude me from hiring either. I would just want to have a conversation to satisfy myself about the situation. Honesty is always of primary importance to me when I am hiring.