As an employer, recruiting the right employee for your job positions. With a mobile workforce and global economy, you don’t only want to rely on candidate interviews for decision-making, because the person you hire to work at your company can make or break it.
In recent research, HR.com found out that 96% of employers in the U.S conducted a pre-employment screening. It was necessary to find out information about a candidate’s behavior that could help employers assess the potential risks that the candidate may pose.
Therefore, you need to carry out an effective pre-employment screening on your candidates to ensure your company is safe and enjoyable to work in. A screening provider such as peopleg2 can assist you in designing a program that matches your company’s needs.
This article unveils to you why you need to conduct screening before hiring.
1. To Hire Quality Professionals
Before hiring, you want to ensure that the applicants are the people they claim to be on their resumes. Background checks will allow you to find out if the applicant has given false information about his qualifications. When you do this, you’ll hire people who will add value to your company.
A recent survey shows that the quality of hires improved due to screening. According to the study, around 70% of applicants misrepresented information more than once. Those who committed negative acts in the past also misrepresented their employment history, criminal history, and employment legibility. Without employment screening, hiring such people would potentially create legal, financial, and regulatory risks for your organization.
Screening apart from being used to identify employee flaws can be employed to identify talented individuals. If you need a bigger pool of qualified candidates who have a proven record of success use free job search sites like JobsToday where employers can find qualified candidates in the USA. Having a large sample size of candidates to choose from will help to ensure that you don’t need to settle for average but can hire the AAA players.
2. To Improve work safety
According to a study by the FBI, around 355,000 businesses experience an episode of workplace violence every year. As an employer, you need to conduct screening to reduce the chances of future workplace violence by knocking out applicants who are a threat to your workplace environment. A comprehensive screening exercise details past incidents which are critical to know a candidate’s behavior.
Additionally, The American Management Association indicates that 30% of businesses fall because of employee theft. According to them, three-quarters of employees steal at least once. So, ensure you hire quality candidates to protect your property and workers against theft, accidents, and violence.
3. To Enhance Regulatory Compliance
Regulatory compliance can prove to be a challenge without background screening. A background screening provider can help you create a screening solution that will satisfy your industry’s standards and federal requirements. Without an effective screening program, your company risks being fined and losing privileges. Ensure you have a screening form that your candidates fill to improve your regulatory compliance. This way, you are sure that you are within the law.
4. To Decrease Negligent Hiring
A survey by SHRM found out that a negligent hiring suit costs close to $1 million or more. If your company fails to do background checks on employees, it may be liable for negligent hiring. Neglecting this duty may result in lawsuits being filed and the company reputation suffering damage. It may happen when a worker causes harm to another worker, or third party within the job’s scope then accuses the company of the employee’s negative action.
Also, when as a company, you hire an employee who’s not fit for the job, accidents and injuries may occur within the working environment. That’s why background screening is essential to avoid hiring someone unqualified for the job. That may save you the pain of lawsuits and subsequent loss of money. About 50% of companies have reported running criminal background checks to minimize their risks of negligent hiring. You can also do the same to help protect your organization from detrimental negligent hiring accusations.
5. To Lower Employee Turnover
Employment screening can help you pick quality applicants leading to higher productivity, better workers, increased work quality, and decreased employee turnover. Announce to all applicants that you will be conducting background checks before the interview. It will discourage some candidates from sending their applications because it’s not easy for them to present themselves honestly. In fact, a high number of resumes contain inaccuracies in job performance, employment, and educational achievements.
Furthermore, such an announcement may encourage candidates with criminal backgrounds to quit the race, which will save you money and time during the recruitment process. The good news is that the announcement may not, in most circumstances, discourage qualified applicants with good backgrounds. These are the employees you need to establish into a reliable, honest, and competent workforce as they will work for long in the company and discourage others from leaving.
6. To Reduce Drug and Alcohol Abuse
Screening can help you identify applicants who’ve got a record of non-violent but damaging acts in the workplace. You want to screen your candidates to know whether they have incurred drug or alcohol-related charges. Substance abuse is known to reduce productivity by encouraging absenteeism, tardiness, embezzlement, crime, and violence. So before settling on an employee, run drug tests to eliminate candidates who are using drugs. In this manner, you’ll have a safe and productive environment.
7. To identify cheats
Corruption and negligence sometimes interfere with the outcome of an interview process. Furthermore, a weak and competitive job market may make you encounter the worst side of people. Statistics show that more than 60% have lied on their resumes when applying for jobs. With people resorting to desperate measures to land a job, screening will help you see applicants for whom they indeed are.
Conclusion
With the rising number of job seekers and the mobile workforce, your company or organization needs to conduct a pre-employment screening to find the right employee. Screening has many benefits, such as enabling you to hire qualified professionals, complying with regulations, improving workplace safety, and identifying cheats. Want to have a productive and safe environment for your workers? You must do a background check.
