I read an article that blew my mind regarding writing recommendations for your past employees on LinkedIn. Apparently there are people noticing a trend where these recommendations provide a platform for legal action down the road. I never would have thought of this! On the bright side, many bosses want to help their former employees find new positions and blasting a recommendation for their work is a great way to help them. But as the search goes on, the employee may wonder why they were let go and others were not and they’ve got the written proof that their work was good. The endorsement of their abilities by their supervisor makes them feel that they were wrongly terminated and then lawsuits arise.
In my mind, if the quality of work is there, being let go is a business decision. Of course, not having been in this situation I can’t say for sure how I would feel, but I think I could move on without taking it personally. I would imagine that I would appreciate a former boss’s willingness to help me land on my feet.
I’m sure there are other factors involved too, such as trust in the organization that this was a necessary choice. I mention the importance of this in my previous post and this reiterates that fact. I also think how a company handles the process of letting someone go must be extremely important as well. If you can leave a place with the trust that this is a business decision and in a way where you are treated fairly and feel valued as a person, that should take away the anger that would cause you to view a recommendation as a platform for a lawsuit.
I would love to know if HR Managers find this to be an increasing trend. I think it is pretty sad if it is true.
