When you make an employee decision, it’s a major decision. The employee that you decide to hire could end up being your best wonderful asset and help the success of your business soar; or they might become a headache in the future. For these reasons, having an employee background check done on all of your potential employees is extremely essential.
An employee background check is more than an item on your to-do list. It’s, quite simply, your protection policy for standing up for your business against making expensive, critical errors. It’s how you hire someone to work for you who you wish and pray will be ethical and reliable.
What is an Employee Background Check?
An employment background check, in plain words, is a review of someone’s past for the purpose of determining if they would be a good candidate for your business. The background check consists of using several different techniques to review their criminal history, work history, academic history, and in some cases, their credit report.
Why does this matter? Your candidate’s resume and interview never present the complete picture. Employment background screening allows you to verify those things applicants are claiming about themselves.
Why Employee Background Checks Should Be a Part of Every Business
Background checks are automatically taken into account for risky jobs. However, the truth is that they can be a part of your recruitment process regardless of the business you do. Let us find out why:
1. Save Your Company’s Reputation
Your business reputation is more valuable than anything else. If you hire someone with a criminal background or a bad work ethic, it will bring down your business. Employee background checking will help ensure that the individuals you hire are trustworthy and will not ruin your reputation.
Today, information spreads fast—predominantly through social media. One ill recruitment can cause a lot of harm to your brand. That is why you must be careful enough to make sure the individuals you recruit possess good character and a clean record.
2. Prevent Legal and Financial Complications
If you hire someone with a criminal record or resume fraud, you can get into serious legal trouble. Depending on the job and where you are, you can have lawsuits or money fines.
With employment history verification by the company, you are taking the extra measure to protect your company from inadvertently hiring a questionable employee. Employment history verification is legally mandated in certain industries, so failure to verify employment history might expose your company to penalties and or fines.
3. Enhance Workplace Safety
Safety increases productivity. Before you even hire someone, think about what if he or she is violent or a thief. They will jeopardize your employees’ and clients’ safety.
By doing employment background checks, you will assist in hiring employees who are safe to be around your workplace and won’t hurt anyone. They could be employees handling direct customer contact or employees with access to sensitive business information. Either way, you will want to be sure in the data that you obtain for background-checked employees.
4. Make More Informed Hiring Decisions
Resumes and interviews don’t always tell the whole picture. Individuals might exaggerate or even misrepresent their background to impress you. An employee background check lets you confirm the information a job candidate has provided.
Consider this: A poor hire can cost your company big time. You’ll offset the time and resources that you will invest in training a person who turns out not to work out. But a good hire will add to your company’s productive potential and to the capability of your team. With thorough background checks, you can shield your company from making costly errors.
5. Save Money and Time in the Long Term
Employee turnover costs money. When an employee quits or is dismissed, it costs money to hire a new worker and get them trained.
By performing background verification, you can hire an employee who will remain in your company for a longer time and blend with your existing employees. You will invest less time hiring and training employees and have more time to fuel the growth of your company.
What is an employee background check, then? Here is a quick rundown of the most critical points:
- Criminal Record Check: This ensures that the candidate does not have a criminal record which may harm the company.
- Employment History Verification: This confirms the experience of the candidate which they claim to have.
- Education Verification: This confirms whether the person has the educational qualification they claim to have.
- Reference Checks: This reaches out to the previous employer and asks them what they know about the candidate.
- Social Media Check: Occasionally, what individuals are sharing on the internet is a better gauge of someone you are considering hiring.
How Having a Background Verification Agency Can Be Helpful
If all of this is more work than you can handle, don’t worry—once again, you don’t need to do it alone. A background checking agency will be able to do it all for you. This is why using an agency will be saving you effort and time:
- Expertise: Agencies perform background checks, so they know precisely where to look and what to look for.
- Compliance: They ensure you remain compliant with all the background check requirements by law, protecting your business from legal problems.
- Efficient and Speedy: Agencies can complete the work faster than you could do it yourself, allowing you to make your hiring choice earlier.
- Cost-Saving: There is a fee for the use of an agency, but the payback—such as avoiding expensive errors—is well worth it.
How One Company Used Background Checks to Enhance Staffing
Below is an example of how one company was positively changed by employing the use of employee background checks. A very fast-growing technology firm had been moving too quickly at hiring employees, going around the process of verifying background checks on them. The result was that they were hiring some workers with fake work histories and criminal records.
Seeing the issue, they began using an employment screening agency to perform background checks on every new hire. Within months, things turned around. They were able to bring aboard individuals qualified, honest, and trustworthy. Employee turnover decreased, and the business was able to expand without the risk of bad hires.
Conclusion: Integrate Background Checks into Your Business Process
Background screening is not to be taken lightly. It is an essential move in defending your company. You are hiring someone as a new employee or independent contractor, spending the time and effort to pre-screen their background will save you headaches down the road.
By performing thorough employment background checks, you minimize the likelihood of getting an employee that can make you miserable. You not only prevent your company from tarnishing its image, but you also end up with a secure workplace and less money and time wasted in the long term.
So, if you’re serious about building a strong, reliable team, make sure background verification is part of your hiring process. It’s one of the best ways to set your business up for success.