The Work Number, theworknumber.com, Talx Corporation ripoff for employees, deceptive practices, misinformation, serious discrimination issue. Beware of this "out source" from your employers. WARNING! have legitimate concerns for your employment future! Internet

This is what I got when I asked them why would my landlord pay 24.00 freaking dollars to know that I work for my company!!! 

I received an email letting us know that you have some questions about the work number. The work number is designed for companies to verify your employment for reference checks, so they are charged a fee to get access to this information.

So if you yourself are getting verification you would need to pay the fee the website is asking for

It is a total ripoff organization just to charge the employee or the landlord mor emoney. 

I cmplained for my company and I hope they will cut them off their services. 

I think it is interesting that The Work Number has justified charging a fee because "everyone charges a fee" when their parent company Talx has been challenged by the FTC for their acquisitions of most of the other outsourch HR departments (ref: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/04/talx.shtm) its easy to say "everyone charges" when you are everyone because you are making a concerted effort to enforce an illegal monopoly over Human Resource outsourcing.

I am CURRENTLY employed by a major corporation using the worknumber and can totally validate that it's a disservice to employees who should have a right to have their employment verified by their own company!

 It's nothing against the work number as a company, it's that our own companies should NOT use the service to begin with as it works against its own people.  For example many LENDERS will not use the number and it has cost me much needed financing recently.

  If my own employer would simply allow say my boss,  or an HR rep to speak directly to the requester it would have saved me time and them money.  How would it have saved my company?  They would have had a less stressed employee producing good numbers RATHER than worrying about how he can prove he actually works there! (lol)

So worknumber IS a rip off but its the companies we work for who are to blame.  Being a manager I can tell you we are told NEVER to verify employment or ELSE! Soooo, it's a big typical modern corporate American stink-pile. Good luck

Don't defend theworknumber. It is a sham. Let me address some of your comments specifically:
 
"Outsourcing the verification process is actually seen as a benefit by most people because it is so much faster than the standard manual process."  
This does not apply to theworknumber.com. This is by far the slowest employment verification I have ever experienced. I just spent 30 minutes on the website and hit a roadblock. I then called the customer service number, waited on hold for 45 minutes, and when I finally spoke to someone, he told me to try and find what I was looking for on the website or contact my previous employer. The answer is clearly not on the website, so I called my previous employer. Guess what they said? Go to www.theworkforce.com...

"The most important point I want to make is, if you are going on employment interviews, where prospective employers have the opportunity to see you, talk to you and evaluate you as a potential employee and you are not getting hired, you are fooling yourself if you really think you are not getting hired because of an employment verification fee."
He is not fooling himself. Employers trash applications because they don't want to pay a fee. When I worked in HR, I can assure that I saw no need to spend any money on a prospect, ever. $10 to verify employment? No thanks, I have 400 other applications here with free verification. Note that this happens before an interview is granted.

"If you really have experience and a good work history as you claim and a prospective employer is impressed with you, a $10 or $15 fee is not going to be a deal buster."
$10 or $15? The prospective employer has to sign up for the service, at a rate of $69/month, and can later cancel if they choose. If I tried to get approval from my boss to spend $69/month for employment verification, he would have laughed in my face. To quote you, "Why would you publish a statement in a public forum accusing a third party of something without having all the facts? That just makes you look bad." Take your own advice, and gather the facts...
 
"reevaluate you and stop looking for someone else blame."
This is a RipOff Report. He's not "blaming" them for his unemployment, rather he is expressing a very negative and frustrating experience that he had during his unemployment. I agree wholly with this RipOff report, and I can only hope that employers will refrain from using this terrible disservice.

While it may be more convenient to blame someone else for your current employment situation and avoid facing the reality that maybe it is you, you are only hurting yourself in the long run. Why would you publish a statement in a public forum accusing a third party of something without having all the facts? That just makes you look bad.

First, when companies like your former employer outsource functions like verifications of employment or wage information or benefits admin or even HR and Payroll functions, they do so with the intent of making the process more efficient for everyone. Outsourcing the verification process is actually seen as a benefit by most people because it is so much faster than the standard manual process.

Second, any experienced HR Rep or hiring manager knows that the chances of getting a former or current employer to give up detailed information about the character, performance or reliability of of one of their employees is almost zero. There is simply too much liability for employers to make statements about their current or former employees. There is plenty of case law involving suits filed against employers by their former employees who claim their employers made comments that kept them from getting hired, as well as actions filed by employers against other employers who claim that the information they received was misleading. That is why most large employers now have company policies AGAINST giving anything to prospective employers other than dates of employment, position held and current status.

Third, EMPLOYERS who hire companies like the one you mentioned to handle employment or wage verifications are the ones who decide what information gets released to requestors. The EMPLOYER generates a data file from their HR and payroll database and sends that data to the third party. The third party verification company simply releases that data to requestors by way of an access code that the formeror current employee provides.

The most important point I want to make is, if you are going on employment interviews, where prospective employers have the opportunity to see you, talk to you and evaluate you as a potential employee and you are not getting hired, you are fooling yourself if you really think you are not getting hired because of an employment verification fee. If you really have experience and a good work history as you claim and a prospective employer is impressed with you, a $10 or $15 fee is not going to be a deal buster. The employers of the people you are competing against probably did not give details either. Unless you want 5 months of employment to stretch into 10 or 12 or more; reevaluate you and stop looking for someone else blame.

Good luck.

While it may be more convenient to blame someone else for your current employment situation and avoid facing the reality that maybe it is you, you are only hurting yourself in the long run. Why would you publish a statement in a public forum accusing a third party of something without having all the facts? That just makes you look bad.

First, when companies like your former employer outsource functions like verifications of employment or wage information or benefits admin or even HR and Payroll functions, they do so with the intent of making the process more efficient for everyone. Outsourcing the verification process is actually seen as a benefit by most people because it is so much faster than the standard manual process.

Second, any experienced HR Rep or hiring manager knows that the chances of getting a former or current employer to give up detailed information about the character, performance or reliability of of one of their employees is almost zero. There is simply too much liability for employers to make statements about their current or former employees. There is plenty of case law involving suits filed against employers by their former employees who claim their employers made comments that kept them from getting hired, as well as actions filed by employers against other employers who claim that the information they received was misleading. That is why most large employers now have company policies AGAINST giving anything to prospective employers other than dates of employment, position held and current status.

Third, EMPLOYERS who hire companies like the one you mentioned to handle employment or wage verifications are the ones who decide what information gets released to requestors. The EMPLOYER generates a data file from their HR and payroll database and sends that data to the third party. The third party verification company simply releases that data to requestors by way of an access code that the formeror current employee provides.

The most important point I want to make is, if you are going on employment interviews, where prospective employers have the opportunity to see you, talk to you and evaluate you as a potential employee and you are not getting hired, you are fooling yourself if you really think you are not getting hired because of an employment verification fee. If you really have experience and a good work history as you claim and a prospective employer is impressed with you, a $10 or $15 fee is not going to be a deal buster. The employers of the people you are competing against probably did not give details either. Unless you want 5 months of employment to stretch into 10 or 12 or more; reevaluate you and stop looking for someone else blame.

Good luck.

While it may be more convenient to blame someone else for your current employment situation and avoid facing the reality that maybe it is you, you are only hurting yourself in the long run. Why would you publish a statement in a public forum accusing a third party of something without having all the facts? That just makes you look bad.

First, when companies like your former employer outsource functions like verifications of employment or wage information or benefits admin or even HR and Payroll functions, they do so with the intent of making the process more efficient for everyone. Outsourcing the verification process is actually seen as a benefit by most people because it is so much faster than the standard manual process.

Second, any experienced HR Rep or hiring manager knows that the chances of getting a former or current employer to give up detailed information about the character, performance or reliability of of one of their employees is almost zero. There is simply too much liability for employers to make statements about their current or former employees. There is plenty of case law involving suits filed against employers by their former employees who claim their employers made comments that kept them from getting hired, as well as actions filed by employers against other employers who claim that the information they received was misleading. That is why most large employers now have company policies AGAINST giving anything to prospective employers other than dates of employment, position held and current status.

Third, EMPLOYERS who hire companies like the one you mentioned to handle employment or wage verifications are the ones who decide what information gets released to requestors. The EMPLOYER generates a data file from their HR and payroll database and sends that data to the third party. The third party verification company simply releases that data to requestors by way of an access code that the formeror current employee provides.

The most important point I want to make is, if you are going on employment interviews, where prospective employers have the opportunity to see you, talk to you and evaluate you as a potential employee and you are not getting hired, you are fooling yourself if you really think you are not getting hired because of an employment verification fee. If you really have experience and a good work history as you claim and a prospective employer is impressed with you, a $10 or $15 fee is not going to be a deal buster. The employers of the people you are competing against probably did not give details either. Unless you want 5 months of employment to stretch into 10 or 12 or more; reevaluate you and stop looking for someone else blame.

Good luck.

While it may be more convenient to blame someone else for your current employment situation and avoid facing the reality that maybe it is you, you are only hurting yourself in the long run. Why would you publish a statement in a public forum accusing a third party of something without having all the facts? That just makes you look bad.

First, when companies like your former employer outsource functions like verifications of employment or wage information or benefits admin or even HR and Payroll functions, they do so with the intent of making the process more efficient for everyone. Outsourcing the verification process is actually seen as a benefit by most people because it is so much faster than the standard manual process.

Second, any experienced HR Rep or hiring manager knows that the chances of getting a former or current employer to give up detailed information about the character, performance or reliability of of one of their employees is almost zero. There is simply too much liability for employers to make statements about their current or former employees. There is plenty of case law involving suits filed against employers by their former employees who claim their employers made comments that kept them from getting hired, as well as actions filed by employers against other employers who claim that the information they received was misleading. That is why most large employers now have company policies AGAINST giving anything to prospective employers other than dates of employment, position held and current status.

Third, EMPLOYERS who hire companies like the one you mentioned to handle employment or wage verifications are the ones who decide what information gets released to requestors. The EMPLOYER generates a data file from their HR and payroll database and sends that data to the third party. The third party verification company simply releases that data to requestors by way of an access code that the formeror current employee provides.

The most important point I want to make is, if you are going on employment interviews, where prospective employers have the opportunity to see you, talk to you and evaluate you as a potential employee and you are not getting hired, you are fooling yourself if you really think you are not getting hired because of an employment verification fee. If you really have experience and a good work history as you claim and a prospective employer is impressed with you, a $10 or $15 fee is not going to be a deal buster. The employers of the people you are competing against probably did not give details either. Unless you want 5 months of employment to stretch into 10 or 12 or more; reevaluate you and stop looking for someone else blame.

Good luck.

Drea,

I completely agree with you regarding your trouble with being hired. At our organization, we try to employ the best and brightest people we can find. However, we will not pay for a reference from "The Work Number" due to the minimal information this service provides. Verification, eligibility for rehire, and salary are not enough when it comes to employment in our field. We need information on performance, character, and customer service that this "disservice" cannot provide. In addition, it is absolutely absurd for one to pay for a reference check, it takes 2-5 minutes of even an entry level HR assistant's time to provide (with proper signed release) and this used to be a request done in mutual respect. The type of service this business provides is a tragedy in HR ethics. Furthermore, it becomes highly difficult for us to employ possibly good candidates that have been employed by companies who use "the work number" unless they list other previous employment. With the job nmarket being as tight as it is, we would just as soon move on to another candidate. Judging from what I have heard from other people who check references, sadly, I am sure this happens more often to viable candidates than has been posted.

Hello Drea,

I'm employed with the "work number" and I will tell you that the reason we help employee's (like yourself) is because "Your" HR department/Company doesn't want to take the time to verify your information for a prospective employer. Nor, will the HR department or any manager help you in anyway to verify your information... try asking any of them what your "Start Date, end date, total time you worked there, your address on file" was... They will tell you to call "The Work Number" In my personal opionion...They "could" help you but they don't want to...

Every outsource company that is used today charges a fee. The work number is not the only business that is doing this, I would like to know 1 job you worked for that didn't charge anyone a dime... EVERY business charges "someone" a fee... Nothing is free anymore.. Unless of course an employee is needing "State Assistance".. THAT service with the work number is free! We don't charge federal or state agencies a dime to help you get any kind of assistance you are needing.

We have hundreds of thousands of companies we give verification for everyday. Believe it or not, there ARE many companies that ARE willing to pay for your verification. It's NOT expensive at all. I've also never seen a salary key expire in "4" days... Your company set's those rules, along with any pin number you have.. When you get locked out and we can't reset it... guess what, your employer decides that we are not allowed to help you unlock your account (not the "work number"). Sometimes we ARE able to do this.. I have people call, and get so aggrevated that their company makes their pin something crazy and doesn't tell them what it would be and we employee's don't have the access to help you.

When you "Create" your salary key it tells you when it expires.. It's so you can prepare and know ahead of time...

Our service is free to all employee's. You, Drea, do not have to pay a dime for our service... Yes we charge companies because the company you worked for doesn't want to verify your information so we are doing it to help you get the job. (Not so they "won't" hire you.) We don't want to cost anyone their job.

I can't tell you how many times I've heard employee's get upset over the phone because their own manager/HR Department/Company won't help them get "ANY" employment verification. I feel sorry for them, and I'm always MORE than happy to answer any questions anyone has about their own employment.

Please also keep in mind that we do not get or give out specific information from your company regarding reasons for you leaving a company or your job performance. So that's not going to stop you from getting a job either..

Please keep in mind that you ARE more than welcome to list your company or manager as a contact, but I bet, they would refuse to help you....