Employee Background Screening: Safeguarding Your Brand During Hiring Surge

How companies can enhance employee screening processes

The pandemic invigorated a systemic change to every industry across the country, prompting the need for enhanced internal protocols to adapt to the changing workforce and organizational needs. This wave of uncertainty prompts a greater need for businesses to secure the safety of their company and employees by making organizational changes, such as enhancing their current background screening processes.
 

According to a recent report, a staggering 850,000 new employees were added to payrolls, bringing the unemployment rate down to 5.9% as of July 2, 2021. Although companies are hiring many people, there are still numerous roles to fill. Job postings on Indeed are 13.5% higher than pre-pandemic levels. With this number of new people walking through the doors of new employers – or virtually logging in for new remote opportunities – organizations must enhance pre-employment screening measures to protect the safety of their brand and current employees.

Comprehensive background checks performed by accredited screening firms will ultimately save companies time and money because they can onboard invaluable employees while reducing risk in the workplace. It takes extensive resources to onboard and train new staff, so businesses best position themselves to reduce the potential for hiring an ill-fitting employee if they take early precautions, such as thorough background screening. 

In the constantly changing atmosphere of today’s workforce, ensuring someone is a safe hire is just as important as conducting employee health screenings because both have damaging effects on a company's morale and bottom line.

The best way companies can strengthen current background check policies is to work alongside their HR department and an accredited Consumer Reporting Agency (a CRA is another term for a background screening company). 

Your HR experts and your screening partner will develop a comprehensive background screening process to ensure only qualified and low-risk applicants get selected. Outsourcing the bulk of the screening process reduces the amount of time internal departments spend vetting candidates and assures the highest quality background checks.

Some employers may be wary of change, but it’s a vital step – especially with today’s fluctuating workforce. Many companies use FBI fingerprint checks rather than comprehensive background checks when screening applicants, but fingerprint checks are unreliable, as they don’t provide complete or updated reports on a person’s criminal history. While some industries require fingerprint checks before employment, they should be used in conjunction with a more comprehensive background check.

Below are some of the benefits of partnering with a CRA to conduct pre-employment screenings:
 

• CRAs use best-in-class technology to keep Personally Identifiable Information (PII) safe and produce accurate background reports on time.
• The candidate experience is improved by streamlining the application process and providing quicker results. 
• Onboarding is personalized to fit industry-specific needs and provides a positive experience for the company and candidate.
• Diligent screenings reduce expensive employee turnover costs. Recent statistics show losing an employee can cost a company up to 150% of that employee’s salary.
• Employers remain compliant with federal hiring laws, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
• Some CRAs are equipped to manage drug testing, credentialing, Covid-19 testing, and social media screening, as well.  

Still not convinced background screenings are essential? Consider this hypothetical scenario – a tech company used instant pre-employment reporting to screen a candidate for an IT position. They didn’t perform a comprehensive criminal background check or Covid-19 test. Everything checks out, so the applicant is offered the job. 

Fast forward three weeks and the new employee has caused a security breach throughout the entire company after stealing customer and employee personal information. Additionally, the new employee was positive for Covid-19, which has now exposed dozens of employees to the virus, shuttering business operations. 

Had the company hired a CRA to perform the necessary screenings, such as employment and/or education verifications, it would have found the applicant was terminated from a previous job for data theft even though they weren’t arrested, and a Covid-19 test would have shown they had the virus. 

Company leaders must now deal with the fallout by responding to the brand’s tarnished reputation, lost revenue, and potential employee turnover. This entire situation would be preventable with a thorough pre-employment screening process.

As the demand for new employees increases, so do the risks. By enhancing the management of specific organizational changes like pre-employment screening, leaders and HR professionals can protect their stakeholders from fraud, cybercrime, theft, and damaging impacts on the brand. 

Furthermore, it reduces turnover rates as employees feel more protected and valued by their employers.

RJ Frasca is Vice President of Marketing and Product of EBI Inc. Frasca brings over 20 years of marketing and product experience with companies such as Yahoo, Microsoft, Time Warner, and Verizon. Connect RJ Frasca