Recently I have heard from members of the legal profession regarding recomendations that are posted on Linkedin. The concern is that these postings could be used against a past employer in the event an employee is released from their job. There is an additional concern that this practice is a violation of a companies printed reference policy (if the policy is to not provide references).
It seems to me that as social media moves further into the work place that we as employers should re-think the topic of references and how they can be regulated. If we all end up putting disclaimers on our various sites, does the message become diluted? Can we change the definition of what constitutes a reference? It’s worth asking the questions.
There is a common belief that a candidate would never give a bad reference to a prospective employer so why would a recomendation on Linkedin be any different? We have the opportunity to review the post prior to release. The person we asked can decline. So really what does it matter and is this simply another aspect of the world around us being over thought?
My preference is to take these testimonials for what they are. Use common sense both when asking for a recomendation and when providing one. Let’s keep this social and not make it legal.
March 24, 2009 at 11:55 pm
It’s fun until the lawyers get involved.
Recommendations on LinkedIn can be seen different ways. If a direct report asks for a LI recommendation, should that manager interpret it as “he/she must be looking for a job…”
Also, these testimonials are so loosely and casually given around social networking sites. The trouble, I think, isn’t in the individual who writes these casually, but in the potential employer who takes a LinkedIn recommendation in place of a thorough and formal background and reference check.