Anyone in HR/recruitment here - do references mention attendance/sickness records?

[0987ytrf]

I'm currently job hunting, and my current employer only gives out factual references from HR, our managers aren't allowed to provide us with references. I was signed off sick from work last year for around 2 months, I've also had a poor year of health in general despite usually being pretty healthy (had COVID, had the flu, had internal bleeding twice and have had to go into hospital). As a result, my sickness record is not good.

Does anyone know if basic references given by HR tend to include attendance?

Internal bleeding is very serious - are you sure you mean that?

I think ours normally only confirm the position, period of employment and potentially salary, but it has been a long time since I have been involved in giving references (I’m not HR but have to review potential regulatory issues on incoming staff)

It depends what the new employer ask for, I wrote a reference today and was asked for periods of sickness during the last 2 years.

Really common to ask how many days off sick in last 12 months- at my work we used to answer (and be truthful) but now all requests for a reference go to HR who may or may not answer this question.

Ours will only give jobtitle and dates of employment - no matter what is asked for

yes, normal to give number of days off sick, but weren't you asked that in the job application anyway?

Your not allowed to ask at this stage any more - used to be common practice though.

And we don't employ people who only provide that basic information in references. So it is swings and roundabouts. Our references ask for two years sickness and we also ask preferred candidates as part of the offer stage. That siad we would rarely withdraw an offer based on a poor sickness record. We would refer to OH to ensure that they were now for for the job and that there was no reason to think that the job would make them worse. We accept that people can have bad years and it is nothing worse than the luck of the draw.

@Quveas I would imagine we work in very different businesses, but then as we ask everyone to complete a OH assessment before they start I guess we are having similar outcomes. Interesting to hear how others do it.

It's in marketing for context, I know when I've applied for NHS-based jobs they specifically mention in the application that references will be asked about attendance so I understand it can differ in different industries.

I'm wondering if the fact all my references have to go to HR if they are more likely to just be dates I worked there and job title regardless of what is asked by the future employer? The requests can't even go to a named person in HR, but just the HR department.

The reason for my poor attendance is classed as a disability, and I had to engage with occupational health and have a formal return-to-work plan put in place, not that that makes a difference in how a future employer will look at it

Nhs ask for sickness record. I had a long period due to covid complications so on paper looked quite bad but my manager who gave reference explained why and all was good

@Quveas

''And we don't employ people who only provide that basic information in references. ''

Which is really silly as this is company policy for many organisations these days and not something a candidate can have any control on.

My new employer asked my old employer to only confirm the dates of employment!

Marketing too.

Nowadays most companies will only confirm dates of employment and job title to legally protect themselves.

No. They will confirm start/end dates. Nothing more

My reference for the NHS asked for sickness days and duration. My manager wrote an email to explain I had covid and a bereavement hence the sickness. Still got the job.

Not if you know what we do, it isn't. Many employers won't accept just a basic references, and many are obliged by law to obtain full references. People asserting that "many" or "most" companies defintely provide basic references only are repeating a fiction for which there is no evidence at all. Some companies won't provide detailed references. But it is our employers legal duty to get detailed references and if you don't have one, then you don't get the job. Not remotely silly at all.

@Quveas

Nope. Still silly.

I have worked with vulnerable people and similar groups where DBS checks are used alongside references. Also, since you usually also ask for 2 references, it is likely that even if you get one company that only has a policy of providing basic references, the candidate can provide a second referee who will give a more in depth comment on their work.

So having a blanket ban on candidates because they might have worked for a company that only provides basic references is silly.

And yes many companies ask for references to go to HR, instead of an individual manager, who will provide a basic reference only that can confirm job role/dates of employment/no gross misconduct/days off sick. That's very common and perfectly acceptable as a reference.

To you maybe. My employers disagree with you, and we have no shortage of highly qualified people wanting to work for us who are happy to provide full references as we require. What you think is common or acceptable is irrelevant. It's what the employer that someone applies to thinks that matters. Adn only that.

I would also point out that " a basic reference only that can confirm job role/dates of employment/no gross misconduct/days off sick" is actually more than the post that I responded to anyway - we require disciplinary records and sickness absences. And we also have security clearances / DBS etc - which is a lot more and part of the referencing process - hence we do not accept basic "job role and dates only" - and according to what you just posted, neither did your previous employers. So if we are silly then so is the law and so are your previous employers who had higher standards than a "basic reference" despite you quoting them as not requiring anything more than that!

I agree with @Greenfairydust seems a very silly company policy and I have worked in regulated businesses that accept basic references alongside DBS/credit/security checks.

It’s incredibly common to only give basic factual references, at least my three previous companies do this and I can also think of several major employers whose flat company policy is to do this. They will provide information if requested as to whether an employee was subject to disciplinary action, but they certainly don’t provide commentary on what the employee is like to work with. The only exception to this is very senior roles requiring regulatory approval, but they have a separate referencing process which is handled by specific people with specific questions.

Please don’t worry OP, I’m sure your basic reference will be fine!

Lots of employers do ask about sickness.

Referees don't have to answer though. Personally, I just ignore those questions as I don't think that an employee's previous sickness absence is necessarily a reliable predictor of their likely attendance in a new role.

The only way to find out if your employer will share this, OP, is to ask.

Many employers won't comment on anything subjective. Date employment started/ended or if ongoing, position in company/title and number of days off sick are all objective data. Most companies will request this.

It's common to ask how many days off sick in the last 12m.
However a lot of employers only confirm dates and job title.

Best of luck op.

We only ask for sick records once an offer of employment has been made.

For employers who only provide a factual reference they usually only confirm job title and start date. They might say no disciplinary ongoing but usually not.