Business Security Information

Why Background Checks?

As of today, the economy is still in a recession, and anytime there is a downturn in the economy it can affect the honesty of those in your hiring pool. In other words, those seeking a position may exaggerate their qualifications and experience or neglect to report previous criminal records or disciplinary action. Usually during times like these the number of potential candidates for a position increases allowing you to be more selective, but the need to weed out unwanted candidates is also greater. A background check is one tool that can assist you in the selection process.

As a business owner, you can use background checks to:

1. Select the best candidate (keeping in mind that background checks should only be one tool in the hiring process).
2. Reduce employee theft and fraud issues.
3. Address potential liability issues related to hiring someone with a shady background.

As a business owner, you always want the best candidates for any opening in your company. Most people look at the need of background checks to reduce the chance of hiring someone that might steal from you, but they can also help determine the reliability of a person’s character. Think how would it affect your business if you hire someone who does not show up to work on a regular basis or is the type of person who drives your customers away. Would this not affect your business as much as someone stealing a couple thousand dollars in cash or inventory from you?

Let’s look at an example of liability issues. Background checks are important for those who are hired to deal with your financial matters, but what about a service tech or some other similar type of employee? If no background check is done when you hire someone for this type of position, and it turns out later that they do not have the experience or certification(s) that they claimed, this could produce a liability claim for your business. Let’s say a vehicle the service tech worked on had a problem with the brakes after the customer picked up the vehicle. The fault in the brakes resulted in an accident. Whether the fault in the brakes was caused by the work done by the service tech or not, it would put you and your business in a bad light when the true background of the tech was revealed. This is just one of many potential situations that a background check could assist you in weeding out before you hire an employee.

Who Should I Include?

What positions should you require a background check before hiring. This is a hard question to answer since each business is unique in it’s structure. Also, in small and medium-sized businesses, most employees fill more than just one role in the company so this must be looked at when making a decision on background checks. I would have a basic background check done on all employees, and a more through check done on those who have access to cash, checks, credit card information and other similar types of company assets. Some people do try to get hired by a company to gain access to these type of company assets or information. Yes, this occurs even in small and medium-sized businesses.

What is Included in Background Checks?

Background checks can include identity verification, past employment verification, criminal conviction checks, reference checks, education and professional certification checks, driving record checks, credit reports and drug screening. These are just the main elements of a background check, and depending on who you use to perform the background check, you can fine tune this to you needs.

As a general rule, check all employees for:

• Identity – Are they who they say they are?

• References – you would be surprised how often this is not done!

• Drug screening.

• Past employment verification.

Then depending either on the outcome of the initial screening or the type of position you are hiring, I would look at adding a criminal check, driving record check, maybe a credit report and, depending on the position, verification of their education.

There is more to background checks then I can include in this post, but, in my opinion, a background check is essential. I have seen numerous times where background checks have not been done by a business, and the results have usually led to a loss of money or other business asset. Get with your legal and HR people or contact a third-party company and work out a plan for background checks so that your company can reduce the potential losses from hiring a risky candidate.

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