Ask me this question: Would I rehire this person?
“Absolutely not.”
The scenario is one frustrated entertainment industry employer’s answer to the issue of recycling folks who are sometimes outright criminal in behavior, because of the law of the land.
There’s not a work-around in every situation for every ethical problem, but there’s no harm is asking each other’s advice and dissecting the issues in an open forum, as happened at RISE, Raising the Industry in Sports & Entertainment, an annual summit produced by this publication.
It’s a relationship business and your reputation is something you work so hard to build. In the blink of an eye, it can be lost.
Asked for a reference for a finance manager who embezzled a significant amount but was never convicted, one employer not only suggested the rehire question, but added, ‘Google her.’
Some states, in fact, have a negligent-referral statute where if you fail to disclose someone was really bad and they have another problem, you might be liable for recommending them. That’s worth checking out in your state.
One RISE participant told of a gentleman supervisor who claimed he was pushed into a fellow female employee accidentally. She filed a sexual harassment suit, saying he intentionally fell into her. Nothing happened legally, but it was internally disruptive. Eventually, the supervisor moved on and, lo and behold, a sexual harassment suit was filed against him at his new place of employment.
Some companies have a policy they cannot give out a recommendation, good or bad. That’s also painful when one wants to promote the career of a stellar employee.
What if the employee lists you as a personal reference, not professional? Is that a different scenario?
Our industry is so small. You can pretty much find out anything about anyone in sports and entertainment by who you know in this industry. And shame on the employer who doesn’t research a potential employee on social media and the internet.
Contrarily, when wooed by a potential employer, the executive should use every contact and resource to find out about the business before taking the job.
How many of you carry two cell phones, one work, one personal? At RISE, the answer was mostly divided by generation. Millennials tended to want a clear dividing line between work and personal life, thus two phones. Baby Boomers found the burden of one phone ringing off the hook more than enough, not to mention the bulk you’re carrying and the likelihood of losing or forgetting one.
Ethics evolve with opportunity and social attitude. It’s a topic we will revisit at RISE 2016. Join us next year in Long Beach. And remember, these are not actually our venues; we don’t know these people.
God grant you many years to ethically hook up conscience with responsibility.