Today, a lot of employers conduct an employee background check before employing people. Background checks are reviews of criminal, personal and financial records of a person. Background checks may be time-consuming and expensive, but they are important. The following are six reasons why your organization must conduct a background check before hiring anyone.
1. Security:
If your organization is one that deals in sensitive items like a bank or a jewelry store, a background check is highly important. Even if you don’t store valuable items in your workplace, your accounts and finances could be in danger. There have been several cases of employees colluding with outsiders to rob their employees. A background check will tell you the affiliation of a potential employee, their habits, who they associate with, prior offenses or prison sentences and other necessary information you need to know. A background check will save you more money than having to lose a lot to robbery and theft.
2. Safety:
If your organization is a sensitive one like a school for young children, a background check is essential. You need to check employees to know if they are past sex offenders or not. You do not want anything to happen to children under your care. Also, you do not want to hire a violent person as your personal security guard or a driver for your kids. Ensure the safety of everyone in your organization by conducting a background check before employing new people.
3. Legal reasons:
If people misbehave in your organization, you may get sued, and you will lose a lot of money. Also, there are some job descriptions that federal or state laws mandate that a background check is conducted on candidates before employing them. If you fail to perform these background checks, you could be setting up yourself for lawsuits. You could lose money on hiring lawyers, fines, countersuits and other legal expenses.
4. Competence:
A lot of people try to portray themselves as very competent people during an interview. But not all of them are as hardworking or as innovative as they claim to be. It is estimated that about 40% of resumes contain falsified information. A background check will provide you with information from past employees, awards, comments and other necessary things that you need to know. This is a reliable way of evaluating the competence of employees. You may not even need to go all the way back to their records in other countries. A simple people search in the United States can be sufficient.
5. Peace of mind:
When you hire someone, you may still have some doubts regarding the person. These doubts may prevent you from putting the person you hire in positions where they can function efficiently. With a background check, you will have peace of mind. There won’t be any anxiety, doubt or worry as to how reliable and trustworthy the new employee is.
6. Hiring expenses:
If you do not conduct a background check, you may be forced to fire an employee for several reasons. Then, you will spend money on time on placing ads for job openings, conducting interviews, conducting new background checks, training new employees and onboarding them to your organization. A background check can save you from all these expense and time wastage.
Conclusion
The importance of a background check cannot be overemphasized. It is imperative that you conduct one before hiring any employee. There are several online and offline agencies and companies that can help you with background checks. You just need to select a reliable one.