Employment Screening Services

Employment Screening Services

Employment screening services help employers hire the most qualified candidates.

Hiring managers and business owners try to limit liability and reduce costs within their business. Hiring new employees involves not only the cost of their salaries, but also the financial cost and invested time in training those employees. Skipping pre employment screening can save a company a few dollars on the front end, but can end up costing the company more over time when dealing with unworthy employees.

Employment background check services can be customized to fit the client or position's specific needs and can provide a variety of insights into the candidate's character and background. Reports to consider are:

1. Criminal Background Checks

Criminal background checks on employment applicants can help hiring managers determine the best and less risk-prone employees. Employment background check companies can provide the past 7 years of criminal convictions for review. Some items of concern would be DWI convictions, violent behavior, embezzlement or fraud during previous employment. Criminal records provide employers with the opportunity to see red flags about a candidate before making hiring decisions and help avoid criminal activity in the workplace.

Criminal Record Statistics in the US:

• Almost a 1/3 of working-aged adults in the US have a criminal record
• Employees in sales positions with criminal records have a 28% higher risk of being terminated for misconduct. (KelloggInsight)
• Homicides are the 3rd leading cause of fatal occupational injuries reported in the US (OSHA)
• An average of 1.7 million violent crimes were committed per year between 1993 and 1999 against people who were at work in the US. (Bureau of Labor Statistics Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries) The incident breakdown is as follows:
  
  • 900 - Homicide
  • 36,500 - Rape/Sexual Assault
  • 70,100 - Robbery
  • 325,000 - Aggravated Assault
  • 1,311,700 - Simple Assault
• Most workplace homicides are committed by strangers (83%), but there is still a significant number (11%) of incidents involving “work associates” in the form of co-workers, former co-workers, customers or clients. (US Dept of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics)

2. Driving Records

Any business that hires employees to drive company vehicles including commercial vehicles need to run driving license checks on all employees and it may even be required by their insurance companies. Not only will these reports provide information on their driving history, but it will also provide an employer with their sense of responsibility. Expired registration, tickets, accidents, lack or insurance can all be indicators of an irresponsible person that can affect their behavior in the workplace and driving company vehicles.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (2016 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries Report) on workplace driving incidents yielded the following information:

• Transportation incidents make up 40% of fatal "workplace injury" events.
• Fatal injuries among transportation & material moving occupations increased by 7%, in 2016, the highest since 2007 making up more than a quarter of all work-related fatalities.

Statistics from the CDC report from the Center for Motor Vehicle Safety conducted in 2016:

• Motor vehicle accidents cost US employers over $25 billion dollars annually
  
  • The cost of each death is $671,000.
  • The cost of non-fatal is an average of $65,000 per incident
• There were 22,000 work-related motor vehicle deaths in the US from 2003-2014.

3. Credit Reports

Employment credit reports does not provide a hiring manager with a credit score (FCRA compliance), however, they will receive an insight into the applicant’s credit history, outstanding balances, collections, and so forth. Credit reports are an essential part of employment background checks when hiring people that will work with cash, or in finance or accounting departments. Credit reports provide employers with a look into the applicant's sense of responsibility and financial stability, hopefully reducing the risk of theft or embezzlement.

Statistics regarding embezzlement within the US:

55% of embezzlement cases we committed at companies with less than 100 employees. 37% of cases were committed by an employee with finance/accounting functions. 37% of cases caused the company to incur losses over $500,000. Over a 1/4 of schemes lasted for more than 5 years before being discovered.

Source: the 2017 HISCOX Embezzlement Study

4. Degree Verification Or Other Education Verification

Unfortunately, many candidates embellish or lie on their resumes resulting in a need for degree verification as well as other education or credential verifications. Some employees may be able to "fake it" for a while before employers realize that the employee is not really qualified or trained for the position costing the company valuable time and not to mention costs in training new hires. Employment background check companies have a variety of methods at their disposal to help verify claimed qualifications and can check databases and make calls on a client's behalf.

5. Employment Drug Screening

As more states chose to not prosecute people for the use or marijuana, it is important to remember that it is still illegal under federal law. Marijuana and other illegal and prescription drug use is still of great concern to employers. Employee drug testing is an important part of the employment background check process. Businesses could be held liable if they allowed an employee under the influence to drive company vehicles or cause accidents within the workplace.

Drug user statistics:

Employees that use drugs incur 300% higher medical costs which increases insurance rates. (US Dept. of Commerce) Drug users are 5 times more likely to file workers compensation claims than non-users. (IS Dept. of Labor) Approximately 30%-50% of all workers compensation claims are related to drug abuse in the workplace (US Dept of Labor) Employees that abuse or are addicted to drugs function at about 67% of capacity. (National Institute on Drug Addiction) Employees that abuse drugs are 3 times more likely to be tardy. They also average a 30-35 day absentee rate per year. (US Dept of Labor)

The risk of employees abusing prescription drugs is becoming an increased concern for employers:

1. After workplace injuries, 65%-85% of employees receive narcotic painkillers as part of their injury treatment. (2014 workers Compensation Research Study)
2. Employers are encouraged to expand drug testing to include opioids and other prescription medications since standard drug tests do not test for those medications.
3. 23% of American workers admitted to using prescription drugs for non-medical uses. (National Safety Council)

6. Social Security Number Verification

Social Security Number Verification is used to cover a variety of topics. It is used to confirm the identity of the applicant and make sure that they are no fraud alerts associated with the SSN (the report will list active, inactive, deceases, stolen, etc.). It is also used for I-9 verification purposes. The importance of social security number verifications are to confirm the identity of the person applying for the available position and ensuring that they are not using another person’s social security number. This will assist in confirming that there are no fraud alerts on that social security number as well as help ensure that only people legally allowed to work in the United States are given the opportunity to fill that position. Businesses can be fined for hiring illegal applicants.

Companies are at risk when failing to confirm employment eligibility and may be subject to:

1. Civil fines and/or Criminal penalties (when there is a pattern or practice of violations).
2. Debarment from government contracts

7. I-9 Verification

"Form I-9 is used for verifying the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for employment in the United States. All U.S. employers must ensure proper completion of Form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. This includes citizens and noncitizens."

- U.S.Citizenship and Immigration Services

Companies are at risk when failing to confirm employment eligibility and hiring illegal immigrants & may be subject to:

1. Civil fines and/or Criminal penalties (when there is a pattern or practice of violations).
2. Debarment from government contracts

For more information click on I-9 Verification.

8. Employment Reference Checks

Employment references checks can provide hiring managers with an insight into the applicant’s character and can help determine if they will fit in with their corporate culture. Usually people only provide references to people that they believe will give them a glowing recommendation, but that is not always the case. It is in those cases that hiring managers have the most to gain from reference checks. Employment background check companies such as AAA Credit Screening Services will be happy to make reference check phone calls on the hiring manager’s behalf.

9. Address Checks

In effort to avoid a past criminal history showing up on a pre employment screening, applicants will avoid putting previous employment in counties, cities or states on their resumes or applications where they have known convictions. Employment background check companies can run prior address checks on applicants to help determine where an applicant has lived and see if there is a need to run criminal background checks in other jurisdictions.

10. Workers Compensation Claims Reports

Companies that utilize large equipment, have employees performing physical labor such as in warehouses or manufacturing find it important to run workers compensation claim checks as part of the pre employment screening process. Workers compensation claims cost businesses a lot of money and avoiding accident-prone employees by running checks could help avoid those situations.

Statistics on workers compensation claims:

In 2014 US companies spent $62,3007,000,000 on workers compensation claims (National Academy of Social Insurance) Only $12.9 billion (20.71%) of the $62.3 Billion came from state funds or federal programs (National Academy of Social Insurance) That leaves the rest to private carriers or self-insured employers totaling $49.4 billion (79.29%) (National Academy of Social Insurance) Drug users are 5 times more likely to file workers compensation claims. (US Dept of Labor) Approximately 30% - 50% of all Workers Compensation claims are related to drug abuse in the workplace – (US Dept of Labor) A 2014 study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute found that 65% to 85% of injured employees received narcotic painkillers as part of their workplace injury treatment.

The article above is for informational purposes to help employers, human resources managers and business owners understand the importance of employment background checks and the various reports available to them. Not everyone with a criminal record poses a risk to a business, but employers strive to avoid risk and complicated situations such as theft, embezzlement and of course violent behavior. Avoiding these risky situations can help provide a safer workplace environment and reduce the loss of funds, costs training new hires, accidents and separation issues when having to terminate bad employees.

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