Criminal background checks are just one element of a comprehensive pre employment screening program because criminal records are just one of the many indicators that will help you determine the suitability of a candidate.

Here are few examples of criminal background checks that can help you understand how pre employment screening can protect your company.

Example #1:  Let’s say you are charged with hiring a truck driver that will deliver drugs for a healthcare facility.  The background check company you’ve hired returns unfavorable employee background check results that indicate the candidate has two previous convictions that are drug related.  If you had not conducted employee background checks on all potential new hires you may have given the keys to a drug locker to a known criminal with a history of drug abuse.

Example #2: Let’s say you run a shuttle service and one of your employees assaults a customer while in transit to any given destination.  After the incident it’s discovered that the employee has a history of violent crime but your position, as the employer, is that you did everything you could to set yourself up to make a good hiring decision before the suspect was extended an employment offer.

The victim later sues your company and using public information that can be found on the internet a law firm uncovers the suspects’ criminal history.  Your argument is not going to stand up in court and an incident that could have been prevented by hiring a background check company will now potentially bankrupt your company and will undoubtedly destroy your reputation in the community.

I hope this blog has helped you understand the importance of conducting background checks on potential new hires.  Background check experts have the expertise to perform background checks and this investment will protect your interests.

For more information on background check experts, background checks, criminal background checks , employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547

 

One of the toughest things for a small business owner to do is spend money, especially when there is nothing tangible they can hold in their hands as a result of the expenditure. That is exactly the challenge I had as a lp consultant when broaching the subject of background checks. Small business owners very rarely take into account the pre employment screening process when they start the search for employees. There are many things to discuss as a consultant with a new business owner regarding loss prevention but the number one concern is ensuring the business secures a reputable background check company that employs background check experts with a wide array of experience. It is not merely enough to conduct criminal background checks you must also conduct employee background checks as well. Trying to pull an owner from the belief that a mere review of a job application and an interview is enough of a pre employment screening to the full understanding of what background checks can achieve is a monumental task.

A very tough example was the owner of a small clothing retailer with five locations located within a largely populated city. This owner had two speeds fast and stop. Trying to get him to sit down for a consultation was tough enough even though he was the one who contacted me for a LP consultation overview of his business. The main problem he had was shrink and he could not determine the source or sources of the bad inventory results. I took about a month to review all aspects of the five locations including interviewing all of the employees and management. What I found was staggering. Essentially there were five locations running five different businesses doing whatever each store manager felt was right for their own store. This included the pre employment screening process. The hiring ranged from a job application and a five minute interview to a store manager who at least conducted two interviews and called for reference checks. There were no criminal background checks, no education checks and no employee background checks. In fact no one including the owner of the business ever entertained the idea of hiring a background check company to conduct background checks for the company.

I reported my results to the owner which included my thoughts on how the losses where occurring as well as the potential solutions to the shrink problem. I told him that his losses were mostly internal and that an in depth investigation would be required to pinpoint the problem employees. There were some minor administrative issues that were easily rectified but the staffing problem was not going to be so easily put to rest. I explained to the owner that before he went and started replacing employees he needed to retain a company that employed true background check experts that would help him choose the right staff. I explained to the owner the cost of hiring and training an employee and that seemed to get his attention since he would now be losing several employees, the cost of hiring and training them and now have to hire additional employees and invest that training cost once again. We narrowed the choices down to one reputable background check company. This company offered criminal background checks from local to federal levels, educational background checks as well as employee background checks with very reasonable pricing. I was also impressed with the transparency of the company to reveal the backgrounds of their background check experts. This openness put the owner at ease to take the necessary step to put a proper pre employment screening process in place.

It took the owner about six months to sort out his employee theft issues as well as at the same time successfully implementing the new hiring process. He called it a labor of love that in the end kept him from losing his business. He is now one of the biggest proponents for small business owners to implement good hiring processes that screen potential employees before they are allowed to take position of employment.

For more information on background check experts , background checks , criminal background checks , employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547

 

It is a sad sign of the times that companies are practically required to perform background checks on every applicant submitting a resume.  Unfortunately, no matter how depressing such a fact may be, it is a necessary action to protect your company from people who would pose a serious threat to the future of not only your company, but the livelihoods of all who make an honest living in it.  They may not be convicted thieves or acquitted murderers, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have skeletons in the closet that should be brought to light.

Most applicants aren’t going to be so honest and forthcoming to tell you they were terminated from a previous job because they were caught stealing, or perhaps they were embroiled in some scandal involving bigotry or racial slurs.  Thankfully, that information is available through the use of employee background checks perpetrated by trained background check experts.  The process is as thorough as you need it to be; and of course the deeper you wish the background check to be, the longer it takes for the information to be gathered and compiled.  But of course the extensiveness of pre employment screening is entirely a prerogative based on the position you are trying to fill.  You wouldn’t want someone who had been arrested for sale and possession of stolen goods to be working in a distribution warehouse, would you?  That’s why we have things like criminal background checks.  They are not meant to embarrass or harm a person’s future; whatever bad history a background check reveals is the result of said person’s previous actions and possible current disposition.  Why should you risk them bringing such harm to you and your company when you can so easily afford to avoid it?

 For more information on background check experts , background checks , criminal background checks , employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547 

Do you know how much it cost to hire an employee? It’s not just the price you pay per hour worked. That is only the beginning. When I look at employee retention and unnecessary turnover, I calculate the true cost of a new hire.

I need to have a base wage for the associate. Then I need to determine how many hours of training am I going to give them. I will then need to add in the hours it takes for their trainer to adequately train them on proper execution of company standards and tasks. Realistically, I should also know how many hours it will take this associate to really work at full speed once they are done with formalized training. Should I include the payroll used to compensate for the trainer and trainee’s unproductive time (while in the training mode)? Yep! And don’t forget, I have to spend time training the trainer to make sure they know what to do.

That is a lot of payroll!

Imagine if you hire someone who turns out to be a total deadbeat. Not only will you end up replacing that associate, but also you potentially will lose your good associates along the way.

Taking the time to run pre employment screening and background checks will help save money in the long run. Hiring the right candidate the first time will save countless hours of payroll dollars. Background checks are designed to weed out the bad apples so you can focus on running a successful business, not a perpetual training facility.

For more information on background check experts , background checks , criminal background checks , employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547 

Critical thinking is defined in the 2009 Pearson Education as follows: A business leader who thinks clearly, sorts through the clutter and anticipates well is using his or her critical thinking skills. A large amount of companies are using a critical thinking assessment prior to hiring or promoting candidates for management positions. Using this definition, it is not so far fetched that background checks should be just as important as a soft skill like critical thinking.

Pre employment screening is critical to successfully hiring a candidate. Running a thorough and comprehensive background check lays the foundation for what you as a company require from your personnel. You are sending a message to all potential candidates that you expect and will only accept the best. Good behaviors in both professional and personal lives are required for your open position.

I always recommend following up pre employment screening with an additional background check before an employee is promoted. It continues to reinforce your acceptance of only the best person for the position. No one can loosen the reigns on their personal lives, just because they have been hired on to your company.

Going back to that definition of a critical thinker, each of those traits will shine through in a background check. Did they anticipate well for their financial future and stay out of uncontrollable debt? Did they think clearly in difficult or stressful situations and avoid run ins with the law? Were they able to sort through personal clutter to stay gainfully employed versus termination?

Use your assessments to find critical thinkers. Use background checks to reiterate their level of success.

 For more information on background check experts , background checks , criminal background checks , employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547 

When you think about employee background checks, you don’t often think about how they might stop internal theft. I had an issue a few years ago with a group of my employees who were stealing from our company.

 There was one associate who would make his purchases with his friend at the customer service desk. That was all within policy. What wasn’t in policy was the additional merchandise that was not rung up. It was thousands of dollars worth of merchandise. After we questioned him, he told us it was all being shipped back to his native country.

 When we went to question the other three associates involved, we could not locate them. They quit or walked out of the store while we questioned the first employee. We took the case to our local law enforcement who then began to search for these individuals.

 After several individuals were brought into the police station, it was clear that the employees we had hired used fake IDs with stolen information. We have yet to locate our ex- employees.

 Had we been background check experts, we might have been able to catch the discrepancy when these individuals first applied for jobs. Had we hired background check experts, they would have done what we could not. Running adequate employee background checks aren’t just about did they have any prior convictions. It is a way for pre employment screening to do its job and tell you the person you are hiring is EXACTLY who you think it is.

 If we had done this in the first place, we might have saved us thousands in stolen merchandise and valuable resources in tracking them down.

 For more information on background check experts , background checks , criminal background checks , employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547 

 

When you think about employee background checks, you don’t often think about how they might stop internal theft. I had an issue a few years ago with a group of my employees who were stealing from our company.

There was one associate who would make his purchases with his friend at the customer service desk. That was all within policy. What wasn’t in policy was the additional merchandise that was not rung up. It was thousands of dollars worth of merchandise. After we questioned him, he told us it was all being shipped back to his native country.

When we went to question the other three associates involved, we could not locate them. They quit or walked out of the store while we questioned the first employee. We took the case to our local law enforcement who then began to search for these individuals.

After several individuals were brought into the police station, it was clear that the employees we had hired used fake IDs with stolen information. We have yet to locate our ex- employees.

Had we been background check experts, we might have been able to catch the discrepancy when these individuals first applied for jobs. Had we hired background check experts, they would have done what we could not. Running adequate employee background checks isn’t just about whether or not the employee may have had prior convictions. It is a way for pre employment screening to do its job and tell you the person you are hiring is EXACTLY who you think it is.

If we had done this in the first place, we might have saved us thousands in stolen merchandise and valuable resources in tracking them down.

For more information on background check experts , background checks , criminal background checks , employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547

One of the biggest threats to the stability of any business is internal theft.  It can take many forms and be committed by people who you may believe are beyond trustworthy.  Beyond implementing round-the-clock surveillance on all of your employees to ensure they aren’t robbing you there is another way to make sure you can trust your staff.

Requiring pre employment screening and criminal background checks for all new hires is a surefire way to weed out large swaths of undesirables before they even make it to the interview process.  Depending on the type of positions you are trying to fill you can even, in most cases, request the background check experts make the pre employment screening rather precise in what it is screening for.  For example, should you be hiring for a position that requires a large amount of driving, it would be foolish not to eliminate applicants with a history of not adhering to traffic laws.

Employee background checks can also be implemented at will should you feel the need to do so.  If utilized in a manner similar to random drug screenings or as a tool to screen employees who may be up for a promotion, these background checks can serve as a safeguard against allowing people to gain greater responsibilities within the company. 

If it wasn’t for such a situation, the company I work for would have promoted a woman who had apparently been arrested for check cashing fraud at a nearby casino a year AFTER she had been originally hired.  Thankfully, through the use of required advancement background checks this woman was never elevated to a position that would have granted her access to nightly store deposits. 

 For more information on background check experts, background checks, criminal background checks, employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547 

 

Most people never see what goes on behind the closed doors of prominent hotel chains. It is assumed that all business matters especially the business of background checks have been addressed in the most professional ways possible and that any issues one might see is a minor glitch which is handled expeditiously. Even with my background in Loss Prevention this was also my mindset until I had a very good friend of mine open my eyes to the challenges of his job at a very large hotel located in the center of a huge city. My friend had worked as an operations manager for a few prominent businesses in the city and was valued as a manager who could assess talent and manage a large amount of people to complete numerous tasks which led to the business running smoothly in an urban busy setting. We were just enjoying a couple of drinks after a delicious holiday dinner with our families when he decided to run his latest job by me along with an alarming employee issue that had been dropped in his lap. Robert, my friend, had been hired by a prominent hotel to be the Director of restaurant operations. Robert immediately went to work assessing his team’s talent and what he found was a human resource nightmare. Even though this hotel was a very large and successful it was a family owned business which placed family members in key positions without the experience or credentials to fulfill those positions. One position in particular was the VP of Human Resources. Robert could not understand why many key positions in his team were filled with people who lacked the experience to fulfill their jobs until he started reviewing the hotel’s pre employment screening process.

The review of the pre-employment screening the hotel had in place was the beginning of the proverbial rabbit hole. You merely filled out a basic job application and submitted a resume, one interview later you knew whether you were hired or not. There were no background checks of any type conducted for any position. At this point the horrified look on my face had Robert a bit concerned, I almost passed out when he told me they did not have a background check company on retainer nor used criminal background checks and did not even make simple phone calls to verify resumes. I was simply astounded that they did not conduct any type of employee background check. At this point Robert clued me into the fact that the VP of Human Resources was a member of the hotel owner’s family and did not possess the necessary skills to employ a proper human resource program, including background checks.

At this point I had to stop Robert and start educating him on the basics of employing a preemployment screening strategy. I explained to him that if he did the homework and put together a solution that included a variety of background check experts to choose from that the VP of human resources would embrace the idea as her own. The VP wanted to do the right thing, she just did not have the experience nor the understanding to realize what needed to be done. I started explaining to Robert the importance of employee background checks by using his administration manager as an example. Robert realized just after he started that his administration manager was not communicating in a timely way via email nor was he getting the pertinent reports from this manager that he had requested. After meeting with the manager he discovered that this person who had an impressive resume could not adequately construct an email let alone use the spreadsheet program to file daily and weekly reports. During the meeting the manager admitted that he had purposefully used fraudulent information in his resume to obtain the position. A simple employee background check verifying previous employment would have stopped this person from even making it to the interview process. Upon further investigation Robert also found out that this employee had been convicted of retail theft and was currently on probation.

Once again, a simple criminal background check would have brought this information out in the open before this employee ever walked through the front doors of the hotel. It would have shown that he had in fact lied on his job application regarding whether or not he was convicted of a crime. As we delved deeper into the pre employment screening issue Robert was realizing that he needed to consult with background check experts to formulate a proper hiring process within the hotel.

In the end Robert was able to sit down with several members of the owners family including the VP of Human Resources and communicate the importance of retaining a reputable background check company. The good thing was Robert came out of the meeting with his job still intact and a budget to obtain the help of background check experts. Now Robert’s welcomed challenge is to choose the best suited background check company for the hotel. As a follow up I also explained the importance of conducting criminal background checks that encompass all of the potential employees former addresses and that as a suggestion to run state wide criminal background checks to ensure all counties are covered within a state. It was one heck of a roller coaster ride for Robert but in the end he was able to bring the pre employment screening problem to the forefront before anymore serious problems occurred.

For more information on background check experts , background checks , criminal background checks , employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547

The underlying motivation for conducting pre employment screening is to prevent a bad hire so it’s difficult to assess the ROI of incidents that do not occur.  I believe there are two ways to determine the ROI of pre employment screening.

First, employers need to establish the value of avoiding workplace violence, legal action or any other type of incident that could adversely impact productivity.  For example, background check experts argue that up to ten percent of all candidates have a criminal record.  Let’s assume background checks cost $50 USD per candidate and an employer outsources 10 background checks per month to a background check company.

The monthly cost of outsourcing background checks is $500 USD or $6000 USD per year.  Considering the impact a single bad hire can have each business must determine if the cost of employee background checks is worth avoiding the cost of hiring 10 problem employees.  Seems like a small price to pay to avoid costly litigation, workplace violence, employee theft or any other incident that could significantly cost more than $6000 USD per incident.

Second, employers must weigh the benefits of reducing turnover versus the cost of employee background checks.  Businesses can calculate the cost of each turnover by breaking down the line item costs associated with filling a vacant position.  A few associated costs to consider are; interviews, training and development or employee benefits.  The list goes on but rest assured once all of the expenses are itemized it’s easy to see how turnover costs start to mount.

For more information on background check experts, background checks, criminal background checks, employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547