Today I need a “proof of employment” letter from my employer. Upon putting in the request, the first question I got asked was “what for?”. To put this in perspective, “proof of employment” letters in India are demanded for everything – whether it is filing for a visa, applying for a credit card, a phone-line, renting an apartment, anything. In essence, they act as proof of who you say you are, and they are demanded by everyone. The only person who hasn’t asked me for one yet is an auto-driver.
Now, my employer has a policy of asking why it is needed. Why is it my employer’s business? If I am doing something illegal, clearly I can fabricate a letter of employment without going to my employer. If I am doing something legal, why invade my privacy?
I don’t know if this is true of other companies but my company asks all kinds of intrusive questions and publishes this information to random people. For example, every time a direct report of mine wants to order an official taxi, s/he has to submit a form online (all our internal systems are automated). In that form, the person has to put in what kind of taxi, from where to where, etc. But the form also automatically (using employment records) adds several more pieces of information – e.g. the age. This information come to me every time. Why on earth do I need to be informed and continuously reminded of the age of my team members? Worse, this information + the person’s full title + employment band is sent to the Taxi company! So, if a taxi company wants to target someone for mischief, they can easily figure out which person probably has a higher net worth based on band and title. Wonderful! The taxi company knows your seniority, where you live, your home line, your mobile, etc.
What about safety, security, or even a bit of simple privacy?
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