The importance of background checks (2023)

You can't trust trust anymore

They review the resume, do the interview and make a job offer. It's a simple process, right? Incorrect! What you don't know about a job applicant can hurt you and your organization. It's not good business practice to hire everyone who walks through the door. It is also not a good practice to rely solely on trust. They need to know who they are.miyour history. Don't be fooled by simply looking at a resume or taking the word of someone who is honest and qualified. When it comes to your organization, don't take chances!

Background checks on potential employees and volunteers should be an important part of your organization's business processes. Background checks can help reduce the risk of criminal activity such as violence, abuse, and theft. They can also review information on a candidate's resume or application and help your company decide if a person is the right fit for the position.

Your organization has a legal obligation to protect.

Keep in mind that employers have a legal obligation to protect their business, employees, and customers from all foreseeable actions of an employee or volunteer. You don't want to end up in a negligent hiring situation due to poor hiring practices. If your organization fails to conduct a pre-employment background check and an employee or volunteer commits a crime on the job, your organization accepts responsibility for its actions.

Complaints of "negligent hiring" are on the rise.

Organizations have a "duty of care" to protect employees and customers from candidates the organization knew, or should have known, posed a risk. For example, a newly recruited volunteer positioned himself near an isolated bathroom and attacked a school-age child while he was using the facility. It turned out that this person was on the sex offender registry, but the organization never checked before accepting the candidate and granting him full access to the organization. The fact that the organization did not perform a thorough background check virtually guaranteed that you were headed for a sloppy hiring process.

Remember that you do not have the absolute right to investigate someone's background or private life. Therefore, you need to know what you can and cannot do when running background checks. When hiring new employees or volunteers, you want to get as much information as possible to make smart decisions. But there is a caveat. Employees and volunteers have privacy rights in certain areas, and it is a right that they can enforce with legal action when background checks are not performed in accordance with the laws governing such checks.

You should be familiar with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

This law provides you, the employer, and the candidate with a fair method of handling background check reports. Under the FCRA, you are generally free to run background checks and use the informationconHas a clear commercial interest, e.g. B. to hire, fire, reassign, or promote someone. But you can't run an employment background check on a whim.

Before conducting a background check, you must provide the applicant with a "Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act" (Applicant's Rights) and obtain their written consent using an Authorization and Release Form. If you decide not to hire or promote someone based on the information in your report, you must provide a copy of the report and inform the person of their rights to challenge the report under the FCRA by submitting an adverse action form.

If someone is known to be unsuitable for the position, your organization could be held liable for negligent hiring. No company is immune from sloppy hiring due to poor hiring practices. Negligent attitude is based on the premise that employers have a duty to protect employees and customers from harm or injury (or "foreseeable" actions) caused by an employee. If an organization fails to perform a pre-employment background check and an employee or volunteer commits an unspeakable act, your organization accepts responsibility for its actions. This is why it is imperative for companies to perform due diligence and background checks on every new hire, regardless of the size of their organization. Volunteers must also be carefully selected due to their contact with children and other vulnerable populations.

Therefore, it's important to know what's allowed (and what's not) when reviewing a potential candidate's background and employment history. All reports made and received by your organization are governed by the laws of the FCRA. It is a good idea to consult an attorney and conduct legal research to learn federal, state, and local laws (and laws governing their access and use in the hiring decision-making process (which may vary from state to state). ). ) before making any recruitment selection. When setting up and implementing your background check program, keep the following guidelines in mind:

• Create a written background check policy specific to your organization
• Follow all FCRA guidelines and federal, state and local regulations
• Use a combination of screening products and develop job-specific surveys
• Establish criteria for evaluating information: what constitutes disqualifying information
• Eliminate subjective opinions to ensure consistency when reviewing results.

The background investigation is your first line of defense.

So what type of background check will best benefit your business? What types of background checks should you perform? It is not necessary to perform all "types" of background checks for every job or position in your organization. Most basic background checks include criminal reports, social security number/address history, and education/employment verification. There is always the opportunity to extend a search beyond the basic selection components (most additional reviews are usually job or role determined). Depending on your position and role in your organization, you may be able to add additional searches, such as: B. Sex offender registry, vehicle reports, professional licenses, credit history, and drug tests.

Today more than ever, companies must pay attention to the quality of the employees they hire. Criminals and felons look for employment opportunities at organizations that do not conduct background checks. Organizations that have a selection program know the importance of background checks on candidates. The process does not have to be difficult or expensive. It's about keeping a business safe, protecting employees, customers and assets, and reducing risk. There is no rule that says you have to hire someone from a pool of applicants. If none of your candidates are right for the job, keep looking. You will not regret.

The importance of working with a reputable background check company

Not too long ago, only a few dozen companies offered background check services. Since then, this industry has grown rapidly in size and scope, but not necessarily in quality. After 9/11, many companies increased the demand for more vetting.

The result:There are just too many in the triage industry now, making it difficult to separate the top tier of night flight companies. Many sell cheap but sketchy background checks in minutes. Too often, they simply repeat old information purchased from private data brokers with no guarantee that the data is up-to-date or correct.

How can your organization determine who to select?

The National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS), a 650-member industry group, recently introduced a comprehensive six-tier credentialing and certification process.The goal:Identify "gold standard" pre-employment screening companies that excel in consumer protection, regulatory compliance, customer education, data quality, verification, and business practices.

These new standards address a longstanding concern of HR professionals: the lack of a concrete metric for vetting and checking the quality of background screeners.

Advice:When selecting a background check provider or renewing your current provider, look for PBSA certification (www.thepbsa.org). Then ask potential detection providers about their accuracy, specifically their error rate and resolution rate. Their information is not always provided, but it is an important criteria for evaluating the due diligence, compliance, and ability of the background reports they provide.

resources

"Managing Your Background Scanners: Free Tips to Get You Started"
Von Sharon L. Zaleski– An item provided byhttp://www.intellicorp.com/

"Risk Management and Background Checks" by William F. Hauswirth, President -An article provided byhttp://www.intellicorp.com/

Online resources for the FCRA:

Primary location yes FCRA yes FTC:www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcrajump.shtm

Explanation of the legal obligations of the employer -www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcradoc.pdf

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