For every business of the modern age, employee background screening services are an integral part of the hiring process. An employer that fails to carry out background checks is liable by law for the legal injuries of their new hires, in what is termed as “negligent hiring.”
Businesses could face punitive damages in the millions of dollars due to the consequences of negligent hiring. In fact, according to the US Chamber of Commerce, businesses foot an average $1,600,000 in settlement claims whenever such cases go to court, with companies losing 7 out of 10 times. Beyond the legal ramifications, here are a few other reasons why background checks on potential hires are vital.
1. Checks help avoid hiring employees with an unideal criminal record
Research shows that 1 in 3 candidates have a criminal record, and some of the dangers of hiring employees with criminal backgrounds include:
- Risk of relapse
- Dangerous workplace habits that could affect other employees
- Raises questions about your brand should customers find out
That said, criminal records shouldn’t outrightly disqualify who you’d like to hire given that studies have established such candidates tend to have a longer tenure. However, in certain cases, certain legal infringements could be a deal-breaker.
For instance, if you’re looking to fill an accountant vacancy, it probably wouldn’t be a wise idea to hire a candidate with a history of embezzlement and fraud. Not only will there be the risk of repeating the crime, but you also won’t have peace of mind knowing what you know.
With the right professional background check services, you can uncover patterns of financial discrepancies and other general concerns according to the nature of your role. All in all, remember there are always two sides to a coin so be open to handing out second chances.
2. Gut feeling alone won’t pick out the best person for the job
It’s the question that most employers have had to grapple with for ages. It’s one whose answer has always proven as elusive as water in your hand. How do you identify the best candidates for your vacancy?
An employee trust score checker can come in handy. While it’s no magic bullet, it’ll certainly make your selection process a lot easier by substantiating your potential hires’ expertise and track record in a similar position.
With TRST Score, for instance, you can retrace candidates’:
- Prior employment path in its entirety
- Position held and achievements
- Dates of employment
- Trust score ratings, including reasons for the score
While you shouldn’t completely dismiss your gut feeling- your experience will more often than not point in the right direction- pre-employment background check services can be a complimentary guide to help you sieve out the high performers from the underachievers. Throw in a touch of your instincts, and you’ll find you’re always making the right hiring decisions.
3. Background checks ensure honesty in your application processes
Candidates lie all the time. Be it straight to your face in an interview or through application forms. In 2019, a Checkster survey established that 78% of candidates lied in response to a job offer, admitting to ”stretching the truth” to land the job.
Some of the popular reasons candidates lie include:
- Desperation resulting from lengthy unemployment
- They believe they can get away with it
- Not being qualified enough to land the job otherwise
Candidates can go to extreme lengths to stand out, and one popular example is former deputy state assistant secretary Mina Chang, who went as far as photoshopping herself onto a fake Time magazine cover to earn carrier mileage. NBC’s investigative reporting got to the bottom of the truth and she resigned soon after.
Therefore, a background checker for employees is necessary to ensure honesty in your interview and application process. Otherwise, you’d have dishonest candidates slipping into your workflow. What’s more, with the best employee background screening services, you can build a reputation for fool-proof interview processes, making potential hires think twice before pulling a fast one on you.
4. Verification can increase your job acceptance rates
Does this sound all too familiar? You’ve interviewed a couple of candidates, a handful of them went through and you got your guy after weeks of painstaking interviews. Finally, you send out an offer, shake on it, but in the end, your prospective hire turns you down or never shows up. You’re left wondering what went wrong when everything seemed so right.
If you’ve been a hiring manager long enough, then you may have endured the bitter taste of rejection a couple of times. Job offer rejection can be due to a multitude of reasons including:
- Poor candidate experiences
- Last-minute poaching by competitors
- Candidates developing cold feet
- Unmatched expectations & benefits
Other times though, the blame squarely lies at the feet of your candidate, and it may have absolutely nothing to do with your hiring process. That’s why it's imperative to rely on good pre-employment background check services to weed out candidates with a poor job acceptance record, and only extend an offer to those likely to take up the job.
5. BGVs are an important asset in your cyber security arsenal
When you think about cyber security threats, what comes to mind? Is it malicious hackers maneuvering your firewalls & plotting to steal PII from continents away? The existence of external threats is undeniable but sometimes the threat lies much closer to home, in fact, right under your nose.
Employees are your first line of defense against online threats but they can also be the trojan horses that do you in. Presently, over 34% of cyber security threats that businesses face today come from within their own workforce, as a result of:
- Inadvertent carelessness
- Disgruntled employees lashing out
- Malicious new hires with ulterior motives
Stringent pre-employment background check services are key when vetting new employees to ensure that new hires you invite to the inner circle can be trusted with sensitive client information.
If your potential hire is the constant factor in data breach cases wherever they were previously employed, then that could speak more about their incompetence than the companies for which they worked.
Online background check companies you can trust
Background checks are important as they enable you to ensure job competence, make your hiring process foolproof, and avoid compromising workplace safety by not hiring individuals with a history of workplace violence. Above all, BGVs help your business safeguard its reputation in the eyes of both customers and investors, ensuring a solid brand image free of any legal taints. Try TRST Score, the world’s premier employee trust score platform, to harness the power of up to 15 different background checks & assure the right hires. Schedule your demo today.