How to Check References for Hourly Workers

Most small business owners do not check references for hourly workers. They interview someone, like them, and offer the job. The reference check feels like a formality, or a waste of time, or something you do for management positions but skip for a cashier or server.

That thinking costs money.

A survey published by CareerBuilder found that more than a third of employers have discovered information during reference checks that caused them to pull a candidate from consideration. That is not a rounding error. That is your gut being wrong about one in three people you almost hired.

This guide covers how to actually do a reference check for an hourly position: who to call, what to ask, how long it takes, and what the answers tell you.

Why Most Owners Skip It (and Why That Is the Wrong Call)

The usual reasons owners skip it:

• "I do not have time."
• "Nobody tells you anything real anymore."
• "If they gave me this person as a reference, the reference is going to be positive."

All three are partially true. A reference check is not a background check. It will not catch everything. Former employers sometimes give nothing beyond dates of employment because their HR team told them to stay quiet.

But here is what a good reference call still tells you: how the person responded to stress, whether they showed up on time, whether a supervisor would take them back.

For an hourly worker, those three things cover most of what matters. And you can find out all three in under ten minutes.

The cost of a bad hire at a small business is real. You spend time screening, training, scheduling, and covering shifts while someone who was not going to work out figures that out on your dime. A ten-minute call before you extend an offer is cheap insurance.

When to Check References

Do it after the interview, before you make the offer.

Not before the interview. That signals to the applicant that the job is theirs, which puts you in an awkward position if the reference reveals something you did not expect. Not after the first day either. You have already committed at that point.

The best timing is when you have identified your top candidate. You conducted a solid interview, they looked good, and you are ready to extend an offer pending references. Call one or two references before you do.

If you are choosing between two finalists, check references on both. But most of the time you have one clear choice and you just need to confirm it.

Who to Ask For References

Ask every candidate for two or three references from former supervisors. Not coworkers, not friends.

A supervisor is the only person who saw this candidate under conditions similar to what you are about to offer. They managed their attendance. They saw how they handled a complaint or a difficult shift. They know whether they would rehire them.

Coworker references are nice words from people who liked working alongside the candidate. That is not the same as someone who depended on them to show up.

For an applicant who is young or has limited work history, a former teacher, coach, or volunteer supervisor is acceptable. Just make clear you are looking for someone who supervised them in a working context, not a personal acquaintance.

How to Make the Call

A lot of owners put this off because they picture a formal, awkward conversation. It does not have to be.

Introduce yourself, explain why you are calling, ask four or five direct questions, and you are done. Most former managers will take the call because they have been on your side of the hiring desk and know how useful a short phone call can be.

Here is roughly how to start:

"Hi, this is [your name]. I own [business name] in [city]. I have [candidate name] as a finalist for a [role], and they listed you as a reference. Is now a good time for a quick call?"

If yes, start with: "Can you confirm that [candidate name] worked for you, roughly when, and in what role?"

Then move into your real questions.

What to Ask

Keep it to four or five questions. More than that and you make it difficult for the person on the other end to stay engaged.

"How was their reliability?"

This covers attendance and punctuality without asking it three different ways. If they start with "they were a hard worker, but..." and trail off, you have your answer.

"How did they handle pressure? A busy shift, an upset customer, being short-staffed?"

For any front-of-house, kitchen, or retail position, this is the question that matters. Hourly work is not complicated most of the time. It gets complicated when something breaks or someone calls out sick. You want to know how your candidate handles those moments.

"What did they do well? What did they struggle with?"

Open-ended, and it lets the reference volunteer information you would not have thought to ask. "They were great with guests but had a hard time taking feedback" is more useful than any yes-or-no answer.

"If you had an opening for the same role, would you rehire them?"

This is the question that cuts through hedging. People who struggled will often praise a former employee in general terms but hesitate on this one. An immediate, enthusiastic "yes" is a signal. A pause and a qualification are also signals.

"Is there anything I should know to set them up for success?"

This gives the reference permission to be helpful rather than just positive. You might learn they thrive with clear direction, or that they struggled without structure. That is useful for your onboarding process, not just the hiring decision.

What California Says You Cannot Ask

Do not ask about salary or pay history. California law prohibits employers from relying on salary history in making hiring decisions, and soliciting it during the reference process can create liability. The California Civil Rights Department has guidance on what is off-limits under the state's pay equity laws.

Do not ask about anything protected: health history, marital status, pregnancy, religion, national origin, immigration status, or age. Reference calls feel informal, which sometimes causes people to drift into territory they should not be in. Keep every question job-related.

This also matters if you ask about attendance. "Were there attendance issues?" is fine. "Do you know if any health issues caused the absences?" is not. If you start connecting attendance patterns to possible protected reasons, you have left safe ground.

If you are running a formal background check alongside this, California has separate rules under the ICRAA about notice and what information can be used in a hiring decision.

Red Flags to Listen For

Most references will not tell you directly that someone was a problem. What they will do is pause, hedge, or say something you have to read between the lines.

Hesitation before answering the reliability question. A strong reference for a strong employee does not require thinking. If someone says "well, most of the time..." and trails off, follow up: "Were there situations where attendance was a concern?"

Only confirming dates. Some employers instruct HR to provide dates of employment and nothing more. If you get someone who volunteers nothing beyond "yes, they worked here from April to September 2024," try asking your behavioral questions anyway. If they say they cannot answer, that is a policy question, not a red flag about the candidate. But if a supervisor calls you back on their own to add something, take that call.

Careful word choices. "They were very good at [one narrow thing]" without anything broader. Or "I think they will do well in a more structured environment." That is a polite way of saying this candidate struggled when they were not closely managed.

Immediate enthusiasm when asked about rehiring. The positive version of the red flag: "Yes, absolutely, I would hire them back tomorrow" is more useful than a generic "they were a great employee." Someone who genuinely enjoyed working with this person says it like they mean it.

What to Do With What You Learn

A reference check is not supposed to reverse a hiring decision on its own. If the interview was strong, the work history makes sense, and the reference gives you a thoughtful, positive picture, that is confirmation to move forward.

What you are looking for is a pattern that contradicts what you heard in the interview. If the candidate told you they left their last job because of scheduling conflicts, but the reference says they were let go for repeated no-shows, that contradiction is worth weighing.

If a reference check raises a concern, one option is to ask the candidate directly: "I spoke with your reference at [previous employer] and they mentioned attendance became an issue near the end of your time there. Can you tell me more about that?" You are not accusing them. You are asking for more information before making a decision.

A salon owner in Irvine described this approach as the moment she knew whether she had the right person. She said every candidate who had a real explanation handled the question directly and specifically. The ones who got defensive or blamed the reference were the ones she was glad she asked.

Where Reference Checks Fit in the Bigger Process

A reference check is one step in a sequence. It does not replace the resume review, the phone screen, the interview, or the background check. It is the step between "we liked them" and "you start Monday."

If you use My Friendly Staff, the candidates who make it to your dashboard have already passed an AI phone screen that asked about availability, experience, and fit. By the time you are calling a reference, you are working from a filtered shortlist. That makes the reference call faster because you are doing fewer of them on candidates who were never going to work out anyway.

Whether you use a tool to manage the front end of hiring or not, the reference call belongs in your process for every hire. It takes ten minutes. It will occasionally save you a hire you would have regretted. Over a few years of running a team, that adds up.

The Short Version

Call one or two former supervisors before extending any job offer for an hourly position. Ask about reliability, how they handled pressure, what they did well and struggled with, and whether the reference would rehire them. Keep the conversation job-related and stay away from protected categories.

You will occasionally get nothing useful. More often, you will get confirmation that saves you a difficult conversation down the road, whether that is "yes, this is exactly who they seemed to be" or "there is something here you should know about."

Either way, you want to have the conversation before the first day, not after.