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Why Most Businesses use Employment Checks When Hiring
Whatever industry your business operates in, running an employment check on anyone you’re planning to hire will undoubtedly benefit your company in the long run. Whether you’re hiring someone older who seems trustworthy, or a millennial who’s new to the workforce and doesn’t have much of a background, it can’t hurt your business to run an employment check. And, the value it provides to the overall security of your business is much greater than the considerably small cost.
Highest-Quality Hires
First and foremost, when you rn an employment check, you’ll be able to verify critical information about potential hires, including their previous job history and background. This means that you will have concrete insight into whether they have the experience and skill set that they say they do. And, generally speaking, whether they appear to be an upstanding individual.
While you may feel that you have a fairly good grasp on who they are after investigating their social media accounts, employment checks are much more reliable. For additional insight, you may also consider having them complete a personality evaluation.
Protect Other Employees & Customers
Unfortunately, there are dangerous people in this world. And, in some cases, they make their way into our workplace. However, employment checks are one way that you can help prevent this from happening at your business. With today’s uptick in workplace violence, it’s important to do everything you can to ensure you’re providing a safe environment.
After all, as the business owner, it is your duty to protect your employees and customers. That doesn’t mean you have to run an employment check on everyone you interview. But, you should be screening anyone you intend to hire before you make your final decision.
When you run a background check on a potential hire, their information will be run through several national databases, such as the:
- FBI’s Most Wanted
- National Sex Offender Public Registry (this is especially important when working with children)
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
- U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
This should help provide you, and your employees, with the peace of mind that you are in safe work environment.
Make Sure Employees Are Trustworthy
Additionally, running a pre-employment credit check can help you ensure that the potential hire is financially responsible. Pre-employment credit checks can verify their:
- SSN (does it match the one they provided?)
- Previous employment (is it in line with what they put on their application?)
- Credit history
- Accounts and their standing (do they have multiple delinquent accounts?)
- Level of debt (is their debt out of control?)
- Recent application for credit
This is especially important in positions that will be handling money. Or, for example, if someone is handling your merchandising or inventory, you want to be able to trust that they will make wise spending decisions.
You should be aware, however, that there is a chance that there may be some reporting errors. So the results are not always airtight. In these cases, the candidate has the right to dispute any errors.
Lower Rates of Employee Turnover
By taking the extra step to making sure you’re finding the most qualified candidates, you can expect to have a lower rate of turnover. Since employee turnover is a major expense for any business, it could vastly benefit you to be diligent when making hiring decisions.
In addition to an employment check, using a top-rated recruiting agency can also help you narrow down your candidates before even setting up interviews, further lowering the risk of high employee turnover.
Remain in Compliance
Depending on the industry, certain businesses are required to run background checks. This is often the case when it comes to positions dealing with children. Did you know that employers can be held liable for not properly screening employees? If you’re on the fence about running employment checks when hiring, make sure you research the requirements of your industry before writing the idea off.
Ultimately, deciding whether to run background checks on your employees is up to you, but we highly recommend that you do. However, keep in mind that if you are going to begin running employment checks before hiring, you are usually legally required under the Federal Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to notify and get permission from the applicant before doing so.
