Given that the very purpose of conducting a job search is to fill a vital business need, there’s a lot riding on hiring the right people. So, when new hires don’t work out or, worse yet, turn out to be bad employees, companies large and small pay a steep price. And it’s not just a financial price either – it’s wasted time, reputational harm or even exposure to legal troubles.
Unfortunately, there is no HR software, training companies or crystal ball that companies can use to ensure that they’re hiring the very best people – which is exactly why a thorough background check is considered a necessary part of the pre-employment process.
The top reasons businesses give for conducting background checks are to: protect employees and customers (76%) improve the quality of hires (52%) and to protect company reputation (41%). Here is how background checks can help your businesses succeed on all 3 accounts.
1 Protecting employees and customers
Reducing workplace violence: Employers have both a legal obligation and moral interest in providing a safe and secure environment for their workers and customers. While there is no surefire way to prevent workplace violence, a thorough background check is a powerful preventative measure – helping companies weed out applicants who may pose a threat to others before they’re offered a job as well as furthering the mission of creating a culture that is safe and nontoxic for all employees.
The Occupational and Safety Health Administration (OSHA) defines workplace violence as any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or otherwise threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site affecting and involving employees, clients, customers and visitors. Ranging from threats and verbal abuse to physical assaults and even homicide, acts of violence and other injuries are currently the third-leading cause of fatal occupational injuries in the United States. Higher-risk workers, according to OSHA, include those who exchange money with the public, delivery drivers, healthcare professionals, public service workers, customer service agents, law enforcement personnel, and those who work alone or in small groups.
Background checks play a crucial role in violence prevention by establishing a safe workplace. Recommended screenings include, but aren’t limited to, verification of an applicant’s identity through a social security number trace followed by fact checking of their work history, references, credit information, drivers license as well as a court criminal records review. Such measures, when executed within the parameters of federal, state and local laws, could expose a history of violent behavior, narcotics and alcohol abuse, or other criminal activity that would meet legal standards for denying someone employment.
In the tragic case that an employee does endanger fellow employees or anyone else at the workplace, a thorough background check can limit the company’s exposure to negligent hiring claims.
Preventing employee theft
Employee theft can take many forms and can happen at any time. In some cases, employees are caught stealing on a first attempt and disciplined appropriately. But not always.
There have been numerous federal lawsuits involving offenders who were caught after stealing from their employers or customers for years. In other cases, theft involving access to sensitive information, including customers’ identity and credit information, has led to class action lawsuits. Moreover, theft is not just an issue of dollars and cents but can include the lifting of other valuable company information, such as business plans, client lists or customer contact information.
At any level, employee theft is costly to businesses in terms of reputational harm, employee morale, financial losses and exposure to costly lawsuits. In the quest of finding employees who can be trusted, background screenings provide a crucial layer of assurance that people hired in sensitive positions have been carefully vetted.
2 Improve the quality of hires
At its most basic level, a thorough pre-employment check verifies that all information provided by a candidate is true. We all want to believe that anyone we consider for a job is representing themselves in good faith. But that’s wishful thinking.
While some overhype and omissions are considered acceptable, and even part and parcel for the process, outright lies are not, and can be damaging. Weeding out people who are either trying to hide damaging information about their past or overhyping their credentials is at the heart of background screening.
Moreover, the first step of a thorough background check – requiring applicants to sign off on an employment application that includes clear legal language that any false or missing information could lead to termination – can actually deter unqualified people from applying for the job.
3 Protecting company reputation
You work hard to establish a company culture in which employees want to show up each day to do their personal best, contribute to the team and make the difference that keeps your customer base loyal. A bad hire could put a wrench in the positive workflow, having a destabilizing effect on the business and leading to reputational harm.
In some cases, productivity across the board can decrease, since others need to work harder to meet targets and goals to make up for someone who isn’t pulling their weight. This increases the risk of driving your best team members out, taking their skills and knowledge with them while discouraging others from applying for the jobs they left behind.
While there’s no seeing into the future to see how things work out for a newly hired employee, a background check can establish how they’ve handled themselves in prior positions, whether they’re telling the truth about their academic accomplishments, how they’re handling their own finances and if they have a history of entanglements with law enforcement that should and could be considered before they are put in a position of truth within your company.
How to avoid making a bad hire
Every person you hire won’t be employee of the year, but there are proven ways of increasing your odds of choosing team members who will thrive in their roles and be an asset to your company.
First Contact HR excels at providing background check packages tailored to individual company’s needs that are inexpensive, legally compliant and quickly achieved. Contact them today to schedule a consultation and ensure a successful and lawful hiring process.