Background Checks: What, Why & When?

"We're an employer and we have a pretty good judge of character so why the need for a background check?" Let's go over the three basic questions: What, Why, & When to have a background check?

WHAT IS A BACKGROUND CHECK?
It's the process of investigating and compiling criminal records, financial records, and even driving records of an individual. They're usually requested by employers who are hiring potential candidates into positions of trust or high security. These places of employment can range from schools, to hospitals, to airports. It also enables the employer to authenticate the information provided by the individuals seeking a job. Background checks will add information where candidates may have omitted vital pieces, mistakenly or otherwise. Perhaps there are other states where a criminal history may be hiding or certifications that need to be verified. The results of such a check usually include credit report, criminal background, and a past employment history.  Education history (which college/university attended, degrees awarded, dates of attendance, major area of study, etc) and professional licenses (state boards of accounting, law, medicine, securities divisions and the like for professional licenses as well as state contractors registries for the trades) can be and are reviewed.

WHY A BACKGROUND CHECK?
Employers use such a service in order to objectively evaluate a potential employee's hiring risk and their qualifications. A candidate's history will often predict their future behavior, which is all the more reason for a thorough pre-employment screening, including a background check and behavioral assessment. Liabilities from neglectful hiring practices also decreases when a meticulous screening process is put into place. Perhaps you’ve been running a company that's never performed background checks and yet you've been successful. It's a small company and you keep a close eye so you've postponed it. But now you're growing. It's never a brash move to be safe, but it is naivety to close your eyes to this potential risk. Statistics don't lie. Here are some noteworthy stats:

• According to the American Management Association and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 30% of all failures in business are caused by employee theft. Take the case of a former school plant facilities supervisor for the Somerville Board of Education -- this New Jersey employee, Aufiero, pleaded guilty to official misconduct, identity theft and insurance fraud. Imagine discovering funds that you'd assumed went towards bleachers for your schools actually paid for your employee's personal kitchen cabinets and sink. Read the full story here: Misconduct Trial Of Former Somerville School Aide Charged in Thefts
• 34% of all application forms contain lies about education and experience as stated by the Wall Street Journal.  Which means that on average 1 in every 3 job candidates will have made a material misstatement or omission about their past, skills, experience, or education.  Usually something that would have affected the decision to hire them as an employee.
• The cost for violence on-the-job? A whopping $36 billion every year, according to the workplace violence research institute.

WHEN SHOULD YOU PERFORM A BACKGROUND CHECK?
Obviously these should be done in the pre-screening (prior to employment) phase, however it doesn't mean the same background checks have to be performed on each employee. Candidates could be seeking different jobs with different duties, but make sure similar job descriptions undergo the same checks to avoid discrimination.

Evaluate your business goals and where you want to be headed. Remember a business is only as successful as its employees so a background check is a rudimentary basic that will set you in the right direction.

Embezzlement -- a Large and Growing Threat

Embezzlement is the largest of all financial crimes.  So large is the crime that embezzlement, according to the Information Security Media Group, outweighs all other forms of financial crime combined!

Not only do the financial consequences of embezzlement give us pause, but the rate of growth in this very popular crime is astounding.  Difficult economic times seem to bring out the worst in some.

In a brief podcast entitled "Embezzlement: Find the Liars, Cheaters and Thieves", noted security pracitioner Dana Turner highlights some of the dangers companies now face.

With companies cutting costs and shedding payroll in order to stay competitive in the current economic climate, companies and ill-afford to become a victim of this pervasive crime which affects all industries.  Companies simply must safeguard themselves against this crime as the consequences are too great to be ignored.  Even in difficult times, the time and effort invested in doing thorough and rigorous background checks of prospective employees pays off handsomely. The return-on-investment is best measured in the form of crimes not committed and losses not suffered.

Volunteers and Background Checks - Again

Providing background checks on individuals who volunteer, whether for school activities, sports programs, and so on is a topic that has longed been discussed. For some, justifying the cost of an individual background check seems too daunting, especially if they have many volunteers to screen. But imagine if your neglect because of price caused others to be harmed.

Recently, a high school volunteer coach was arrested for paying two students to have sex with him. The incidents happened on two different occasions. The girls were 15 and 17 years old and were not on the swim team for which this man volunteered. The man, Joseph Verrier started coaching for the school shortly before the school implemented a background check policy on volunteers and teachers so his background was never investigated prior the incidents. Criminal searches conducted after Verrier's arrest found no criminal history, so he probably would have been accepted anyway. You can read the full story here.

More and more school districts, sports programs, etc. are starting to implement a background check policy, regardless of cost. Such a policy can greatly reduce the chances of hiring a potential risk or even a negligent hiring suit against your organization. The more thorough the screening process, the greater the reduction in risk.

As this man's example shows, not everyone that gets in trouble comes from a troubled past. A person with a squeaky clean past can change habits and attitudes in the blink of an eye for any number of reasons. This is where a solid background check combined with behavioral screening becomes most effective.

Aside from checking for criminal histories and verifying education and employment, a behavioral assessment test allows a greater insight into a person's propensity towards adverse behavior, such as theft, workplace violence, abuse of workers' compensation, substance abuse and lying, activities that may not as of yet occurred. It won't reveal past behavior, but it may indicate that some adverse problems may be forthcoming. Being able to foresee possible danger ahead will certainly allow one to make decisions that will avoid the risks altogether.

But at the very least, every organization should implement a screening policy of some sort, and that is especially true when the nature of the business or program involves people under the age of 18. Would you rather your children went to a school that screened its teachers and volunteers, or one that did not? I know my answer.

Ice Cream Trucks and Background Checks

As the summer and the heat approach, many of us turn to familiar sources for a cool refreshing treat; ice cream trucks. But, who's driving that truck, and should we trust our children to interact with them?

In Nashville, one news station is reporting that they are finding several convicted criminals, many with sex offense charges at the helm of these child magnets. In some cases, drivers have been dealing drugs or even involved in other violent behavior, such as drive-by-shootings. It seems strange to me that such an industry needs to be told to screen their employees. Much like a daycare provider, anybody coming into contact and dealing with children on a professional or volunteer basis should be screened for criminal histories, especially for sexual criminal activities.

I believe people can change. I also believe that we should give people a second chance, in most cases. People make mistakes. But not with these types of jobs. Let a convicted sexual offender who is genuinely reformed work in some industry where they will not be in contact with children, and where they can be easily supervised, whether it be manufacturing, construction or whatever. There are places for them. Just not around children.

This story just goes to show that you cannot underestimate the importance of a thorough background check. You have to do your due diligence. Not conducting a proper background check has the potential to put one's self and company at risk for a negligent hiring suit. And all of that is really secondary to the damage, whether physical or psychological, that may occur to some innocent young victim and their families.

Read the full news article here.

E-Verify Legislative Update: HR111-19

The Basic Pilot Program (as it was introduced in Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996) has grown significantly and has come to be known more commonly as the E-Verify program.

A number of states presently require its use as does the federal government for federal contractors. A bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives to make the E-Verify program permanent (presently it requires re-authorization) and make its use required in all states. The bill introduces a 7-year phase-in process for the program with entities employing 10,000 or more required to participate in year one. The successive years drop the threshold from 10,000 employees to 5,000/1,000/500/250/100/1. By the conclusion of year seven, all employers would be covered by the program.

The bill is presently referred to committee.

February 2009 Employment Outlook--Significantly Worse

Companies are shedding employees faster and faster in an effort to stay above water. The Conference Board just published last week its most recent analysis of the job market as measured by the volume of online help wanted ads (monster.com, hotjobs.com, careerbuilder.com, etc.)




The outlook is dark and darkening.

The number of new help wanted ads has steadily declined since May 2008, but the downturn became precipitous in November. December 2008 and January 2009 have continued the downward trend and steepened the slope.

The good news: There are *still* jobs out there. Many positions are waiting to be filled by excellent candidates.

The bad news: For every open position, there are now many more job seekers applying making it all the more difficult to secure a job in a market where there are fewer positions available.

Last week I was skiing in Utah and after a day on the slopes, I was relaxing in front of a warm fire with the TV on. It caught my attention when the local news station began to illustrate the job picture in terms few could misunderstand. The news piece centered on a local Deli (Moochies) owned and operated by a woman in the Salt Lake area. In her interview, the owner compared her experiences in filling a position for a sandwich maker. In the past, when she had posted an ad for the position, she would get 2-3 responses. Today she gets more than 200 (and as you might imagine, the position is not especially well-paid).

Times are tough for a great many these days and the job forecast is not very heartening. But, something worth remembering in both good times and bad is that economic cycles are just that, cycles. As surely as bad times follow good, so do good times follow the bad. So, hang in there.

North Dakota Bill for Background Checks

ND legislators are considering passing a bill that would require background checks to be done on all daycare workers.

For more details, click the link below.
http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=26554

New I-9 Form Update

The effective date of the new I-9 form has been delayed for 60 days, until April 3, 2009. It was originally scheduled to take effect on February 2.
For more details, click the link below.
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem...