Research Summary: Background Screening: Trends in the U.S. and Abroad

With more remote workers now than ever, professional background checks are even more important to safeguard today’s increasingly globalized workforce.

The Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA) completes an annual survey of human resources professionals to identify trends in the expansion of screening in the global labor market. This report examines background screening trends worldwide and compares the differences between organizations with locations in the U.S. and those with no U.S. locations.

Here are the top findings from the survey:

Organizations with at least one U.S. location are more likely to screen in most workforce categories than those with no U.S. locations. An exception to this general trend is with respect to the contingent/contract workers and vendor representatives categories, where organizations with no U.S. locations screen at a higher rate than those with U.S. locations.

 

It has become commonplace for organizations in the U.S. to wait to conduct background checks until after a conditional offer, with a majority (73%) of organizations with U.S. locations reporting that is when they typically conduct screenings. Outside of the U.S., however, it is more common to conduct a background check after a job interview, but before a job offer.

The 2021 PBSA survey indicates that criminal background checks are the most common type of background check (93%), and far more employers rely on national criminal databases and statewide, county, regional and/or local sources than fingerprinting.

To learn much more about the survey on Background Screening 2021, we invite you to read the complete report here: