Risks of ignoring background checks

Risks

Conducting the basic screening only or ignoring background checks altogether can be a serious risk for your business. Background screening of all potential employees is necessary and acts as a risk-mitigating tool. For companies to be compliant and achieve maximum efficiency, confirming the credibility and past conduct of employees is essential.

According to a study by Ernst & Young Global Limited, 96% of the study respondents have experienced negative background checking results in 10% of the screened new and existing employees. Along with this 82% reported negative background checking results among 5% of the screened employees.

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Risks

Conducting the basic screening only or ignoring background checks altogether can be a serious risk for your business. Background screening of all potential employees is necessary and acts as a risk-mitigating tool. For companies to be compliant and achieve maximum efficiency, confirming the credibility and past conduct of employees is essential.

According to a study by Ernst & Young Global Limited, 96% of the study respondents have experienced negative background checking results in 10% of the screened new and existing employees. Along with this 82% reported negative background checking results among 5% of the screened employees. Conclusions from other studies and experience show that:

• - The number of bad hiring can be substantial for companies that are involved in bulk-hiring.
• - It is not necessary for the risk to be immediate. The risk can snowball with time.
• - Companies have room to eliminate or minimise such risk at the start of hire.

A bad hire results in a loss of time, resources, and effort. With every bad hire comes a new cost of hiring a replacement. This can ultimately impact the company’s productivity and create a hindrance in achieving the company's goals. Another risk of bad hiring is non-compliance with the company being exposed to the unwanted risk of fraud, theft, defamation because of such hiring.

Reasons for negative background checks mainly constitute to:

• - Incorrect employment records; Candidates fabricate past work experience from tenure to designation. Hirers are even at risk because of companies that offer fake experience letters
• - Incorrect education history; Incorrect education information puts the hirer at risk of hiring candidates that are otherwise unfit or underqualified for the job.
• - Termination at previous employers; candidates tend to lie about the reason for leaving the past job. Hiring such candidates results in substandard work and misconduct.
  

Companies can take some precautions to avoid bad hiring by:

• - Keeping an eye out for gaps between employment & education
• - Unknown previous employers
• - Unknown colleges & universities

To avoid these risks companies should invest in pre-employment screening. Pre-employment screening checks are gaining more and more popularity among recruiters. However, these checks are sensitive to candidates’ personal data and information. One little error can invalidate all the results. Therefore, a professional service specialising in these background and pre-employment screening checks is just what you need as your outsourced partners to secure your company from any future risks.

With these changing dynamics, employment screening will have to be aided by technology to eliminate potential threats to the end hirer. The need of the hour is for businesses to align their operations with technology. Digital background screening can unfold new dimensions. It can boost HR confidence in the new hire. Not only can it help in hiring the ideal candidates but outsourcing to a third-party screening provider like Giant can help save companies time and resources.