“Ninety percent of people support background checks. Which means even people who can’t pass a background check support background check.”
— Bill Maher
Imagine an office where interviews are being conducted. Candidates charm everyone with their impressive resume and polished conduct. Yet, there might be a history of fraudulent activity that could potentially jeopardize your company’s reputation and security. This anecdote vividly demonstrates the importance of staff vetting and background checks.
Companies must follow the rule “know before you hire” while employing their staff. It involves screening, which underscores the need for detailed background checks before sourcing new employees.
This process involves examining candidates’ qualifications, work experience, recommendations, and criminal records to ensure they are in tandem with organizational norms and standards. Carrying out comprehensive vetting shields enterprises from risks associated with potential misconduct, incompetence, or legal obligations.
Additionally, it supports the development of a safe and reliable working environment as well as the protection of corporate image and resources.
With examples of continuing fraud and misconduct on the rise, employers cannot afford to overlook the significance of proper screening of potential hires. Moreover, background checks go beyond providing invaluable insights into a candidate’s past behavior, qualifications, and suitability for the role.
In this blog, we’ll highlight the risks of poor employee vetting and background checks.
Understanding Staff Vetting
Staff vetting is the process of researching a candidate’s past and qualifications before employment. It is an effective approach to guarantee that an employee is a good fit for a position, and it investigates their background to identify any issues that may make them unfit for the workplace.
Vetting before employment is critical to ensuring employee safety and well-being. Not only that, it is also useful for the following:
- Increased security and protection
- Improved applicant quality
- Potential for increased employee retention
These types of checks are legally required, particularly in certain businesses. For example, people working in education and healthcare are more likely to require a check for each employee hired.
From verifying credentials to finding any red flags, implementing strong vetting procedures is a precautionary measure. Also, it’s a strategic imperative for safeguarding the integrity and success of your organization.
Risks of Improper Background Checks
If companies do not conduct proper vetting and background screening, things can go wrong, affecting the company’s reputation in the future. Here are some risks involved with poor vetting procedures:
1. Estimating Candidates’ Experience
If a candidate has years of experience, it is apparent that many businesses will neglect background checks. The reason is the lack of understanding about the security these checks can bring to a business.
Every job has a different level of security screening. It may depend on what the employer wants to learn about a candidate and their past. Also, it may include the owner’s business objectives, business type, and many other things. Thus, a background screening can reveal this information legally and professionally.
While, if the screening is not undergone thoroughly, it may cause potential threats to the functionality and creditability of the organization.
2. Loss of Potential Employee
According to a survey, almost 38 percent of employers have lost a candidate because of a negative experience during their background screening process. Although, 44 percent of HR managers have tested their background check experience themselves, i.e., how the screening procedure goes.
Moreover, it is identified that when employers do test their process, the experience that is observed is a less-than-ideal candidate. So, approximately 14 percent rated their background check candidate experience as fair or poor.
It should be necessary to make sure not to lose a potential candidate for a job just because of the poor screening procedure.
Furthermore, employers are well aware of the fact that conducting background checks is important in the hiring process. But there are only a few who conduct these sessions. They find it hard to invest time to evaluate the candidate’s experience and other necessary information.
One more thing is, if the background-checking process takes longer, the risk of losing a quality candidate is higher. They opt to go to another employer. Therefore, managers must test the candidate’s application within a very suitable time so applicants do not have to wait for long. Hence, reducing the risk of loss of potential employees.
3. False Information
Businesses have the right to seek workers that understand their jobs well. They must have all the capabilities to complete the tasks they have been recruited to do.
In this regard, you must make sure that the person you hire comes through a proper vetting process. Without carrying out staff screening before hiring new staff, there might be a risk of employing somebody who is unfit for the job.
The risk associated with the hiring is increased when the potential employee provides false evidence. For example, the information they have disclosed about their qualifications or experience for a specific task is wrong. Or, they do not deem fit for the particular responsibilities that the employers are looking for.
4. Becoming a Fraud Victim
The provision of false information is not just an ordinary crime. When you are offered false information in exchange for employment, you are at a high risk of becoming a victim of fraud if you ignore background screening.
Often, it’s hard to believe that misconduct can happen in such cases. Especially, when you are working at the corporate level. But the sad fact is that you can not escape such criminalities happening around you. All you need is to make a fool-proof strategy to avoid such mishaps.
So, implementing the relevant background checks before hiring a new employee ensures that you are eliminating the risk of recruiting fraudulent or unreliable individuals. This provides greater security for you, your staff, and the business altogether. Thus, ensuring a better image of your company.
5. Workplace Discontent
Sometimes, the employer is unable to create a safe work environment for other employees. This situation occurs when they ignore the importance of conducting thorough screening of the applicants like background checks and criminal record checks.
Additionally, when you unintentionally do negligent hiring, this results in generating discomfort among the existing staff. The workplace environment gets distressed and productivity lowers. All this tends to harm the company, its employees, and other third parties associated with the business.
Background Screening from Smart Workforce
If you are looking to hire new talent for your business and require background checks to ensure maximum safety for yourself and your business, look no further than Smart Workforce, a software offering advanced and outstanding staff vetting.
We offer pre-employment checks of security personnel according to the BS7858 screening standard to ensure a high level of safeguarding within your organization.