The Reference Dilemma

Q: I recently learned that my name was listed as a reference by a former employee whom I had to dismiss because she was always late for work. I've already gotten two calls from employers asking about her work record. Should I be honest and tell them about her chronic tardiness?

A: Your mother was right when she said "if you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all." As you might have noticed when calling for references on your own applicants, many companies are now hesitant to give any feedback — positive or negative — about former employees. The fear is that an individual who is turned down for a job will contest what was said in the reference and sue their former employer for libel. Nowadays, most large employers will only confirm dates of employment and job title or description.

However, this limited information is not as useless as it might appear. One of the most important criteria for a good retail employee is honesty, so it helps to know that an applicant has told the truth about previous employment on their application or resume. The dates of employment also help establish whether the potential employee has stayed with one job for a long time. Certainly, most employers would not have retained an individual with serious work problems for very long.

The question of whether to be frank about performance issues becomes more difficult when the call comes from a colleague rather than a stranger. You might want to ask if you can speak off the record, if you feel it would be a grave mistake for your friend to hire the applicant. But beware — there's no guarantee this helpful act won't come back to haunt you.

One way to avoid legal ramifications of job references is to include a line in your exit interview form that asks, "What information would you like us to share with future employers?" If the individual indicates "any," the implication is that you may discuss documented performance problems if asked. Be sure to have this form dated and signed; keep it on file for several years.

Q: We have a computer in the office for general store use, such as bookkeeping, maintaining our Web site, and creating the store newsletter. It is also networked with our POS system, so all of our sales data is there as well. Recently, I walked into the office and saw one of our managers checking her personal e-mail on the computer. She logged off guiltily when she realized I was there, so I decided to check the history on the Web browser to see how much personal use the computer was getting. I was shocked by what I found. Do I need to put the computer under lock and key?

A: As an employer, you have several issues to deal with here: the breach of trust you've experienced, your concern about your employees' time, and your legal responsibilities for the use of your Internet connection. In addition, you should probably be concerned about the security of the store's financial and personnel data.

Most computer operating systems will allow you to install a password that prevents unauthorized employees from logging on. But in many shops, the computer is left on all the time. With DSL and cable connections, many computers remain online at all times, so gaining access is not difficult. Instead of trying to lock up the computer, you need to discuss with your staff what constitutes acceptable use of this tool.

The best way to deal with the issue is to confront it head on. Discuss the situation openly with your staff. Explain that you realize employees might want to check personal e-mail during their break, if the computer is not being used. The staff should agree as a group to guidelines similar to those for personal calls. For example, personal use of the computer should take place only during breaks or before or after a shift, and should be limited to five to ten minutes. By limiting e-mail to breaks, you will hopefully make it clear that you feel employee time should be spent on store work. And by making the use of the computer an employee perk, you will encourage better morale.

For Internet use, you might want to add some specifications about what server or screen names may be used for sending e-mail. Of course, sending anything obscene or illegal from store premises must be explicitly prohibited. It's also a good idea to expressly forbid opening e-mails with file attachments, which may contain viruses.

The staff's access to the Internet could also expose your business to activities you'd do best to avoid: visiting pornography sites, downloading music or video files without authorization, participating in questionable chat rooms, etc. It seems reasonable to require that all Internet use beyond e-mail be cleared with you or the store manager first.

The last issue is how to make the data on your computer secure. Some storeowners don't feel any more protective of their computer files than of the paper files freely available in their office. If you are worried about this, there are programs that apply password protection for access to certain files. Check with your local computer store to see what software is out there.

At the same time, make sure you're using an up-to-date method of backing up key information daily, including keeping backup copies off-site in case of a catastrophe. Our entire hard drive was accidentally erased during a routine upgrade earlier this year, and thanks to backup copies we didn't suffer very badly.