As you know, background screening offers valuable insights that enhance an organization’s safety and integrity. Hiring the right people is crucial to reducing risk, creating a safe environment where employees thrive, ensuring customers feel secure, and protecting your brand. Conducting a pre-employment background screening helps you onboard the right people and lowers your risk.
It is also essential to keep in mind that employee dynamics can change over time. These changes might prompt a once-great employee to consider doing something they would have never done before, such as theft and violence, which can cause workplace safety issues, brand damage, dysfunction in company culture, and negligent hiring claims.
Employers that implement both pre-employment and post-hire screening strategies create a robust framework to reduce risk, have higher retention, and manage the workforce. Pre-employment checks ensure the initial hiring of qualified, trustworthy personnel, while post-hire checks provide ongoing oversight, detecting issues before they escalate.
This comprehensive approach aligns with best practices in risk management, compliance, and corporate governance. It fosters a safer and more productive work environment, reduces legal exposure, and helps build a positive organizational culture rooted in integrity.
Concerning theft, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ 2022 global report entitled Occupational Fraud 2022: A Report to the Nations uncovered that businesses with fewer than 100 employees reported $150,000 in median losses from internal theft and fraud. Can your business afford this kind of annual loss?
This is a high price to pay for hiring a violent employee. A Dallas, Texas jury delivered a verdict in a negligent hiring case, ordering Charter Communications to pay more than $7 billion for the robbing and murdering of an elderly woman in her home by one of its service technicians.
The suit alleged that the company, which also operates as Spectrum, failed when it hired the killer without doing enough to learn about his previous employment history. A background screening would have revealed that the offender had been let go from earlier jobs for offenses including harassment of co-workers and forgery, the victim’s family alleged.
The jurors found that the company ignored red flags about its employees and forged documents to minimize their liabilities.
According to the Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA), – 94% of employers report running some form of background screening. Many ignore something that seems familiar in the report and discount its importance, which can be very dangerous and costly.
The cost of hiring, training, and replacing a bad hire typically amounts to a third of their salary. Additionally, approximately 9% of bad hires result in legal troubles. Doing your due diligence during the hiring process saves you money and can even save you from more complex legal problems. Studies confirm that negligent hiring lawsuits are “extremely costly to defend, and if the plaintiff is successful, a multimillion-dollar award is not uncommon.” For small- to medium-sized businesses, these kinds of situations could spell financial and brand disaster.
Let’s face it: The odds of bad things happening are higher when a thorough and accurate background screening is not conducted before onboarding. Not knowing someone’s past is not an option. You owe it to your company and those you employ and serve to have all the details needed to make an informed decision.
Not conducting pre-employee and post-hire background screenings can quickly open your company to all kinds of financial costs.
Therefore, conducting scheduled, ongoing post-hiring background screenings is crucial for managing risk and ensuring the safety of everyone. Employing a balanced, legal, and transparent approach can maximize benefits while minimizing drawbacks. Partnering with a reputable background screening company with expertise in providing accurate information and delivering it quickly is vital to your hiring and retention success.
In an increasingly complex and regulated business environment, background screening serves as a vital tool for organizations aiming to optimize their hiring process and safeguard their operations. Both pre-employment and post-hiring background checks offer distinct but complementary benefits. When integrated effectively, these strategies form a pillar of a proactive, responsible, and transparent employment approach that benefits all involved.
Having information alone is not enough, and not every company is the same when it comes to background screening. You want to partner with an experienced, thorough, timely, responsive, and professional team that has a track record of results.
Mohr Information & Investigative Services is that company. For over 30 years, we have provided critical, highly accurate background screenings, enabling you to make the best possible decisions. Our mission is to provide accurate and timely information to keep our clients, their customers, employees, and the public safe. To learn more about how we can help you, call us today at 540-678-8775.