Employee Background Checks
Employee background checks save your business time & money. Our comprehensive service provides assurance and protection for your company and personnel.
Why Employee Background Checks Are So Important
Conducting an employee background check is standard practice for many organizations as part of their hiring process. In addition, many firms conduct ongoing checks after an employee has been hired – either for internal policy reasons or to ensure compliance as outlined by a growing number of industries and contract requirements.
Employers can be held responsible for knowing or not knowing certain details about their employees through lawsuits of negligent hiring and retention liability. Regulatory agencies require all employers to provide a safe workplace. Admired organizations choose to make safety and security part of their culture.
Employees that feel safe and secure at work every day inherently trust their employer. It is imperative to be able to know beforehand whether a potential employee has a relevant criminal record and has been involved in serious problems such as reckless behavior, substance abuse, theft, violent behavior, or dishonesty.
Its a sign of the times that many people feel confortable sharing much of their lives, opinions and information online and in a variety of social media platforms. The traditional background check has evolved forcing employers and background check companies to evolve as well. Much can be garnered about a person’s character, general reputation, personal characteristics, and mode of living from the content they post on social media.
Employers have a lot more access to information on prospective employees when making a hiring decision, but it hasn’t necessarily made the decision easier or more safe. The burden of proof lies solely on the employer as to why the information in a person’s background may directly impact the job for which they are applying.
An employment background check may review a person’s criminal history, credit, dates and places of previous employment, and education records. Additionally, professional and personal references may be contacted to learn more about a candidate’s previous experiences, interactions with peers, skill set, and overall job performance.
Did you know that around 40% of all background checks will detect at least one discrepancy in job applicants’ resumés?
The #1 most dishonest item on a candidate's job application or resumé is education.
Background check companies have a duty to both their employer clients and the candidate for which they are pulling data on to report only sourced information. Taking someone’s word as fact is not allowed and should never be entertained due to the legal ramifications. Therefore, background check companies need to verify and authenticate all information supplied directly by the source - i.e. the school, the employer, the court house, etc.
While this seems obvious, not all background check companies practice this model which can hamper customer service, reputation, and more importantly, cause legal action.
Background screening provides a valuable, objective risk-management tool that delivers protection against a bad hire. Background screens can also uncover potential errors, omissions and inaccuracies in public records that may not otherwise be known. While excellent customer service is expected by a background check company and its employer clients, is should also include the consumer for whom the report is pulled. Records, files, and old cases are prone to misinformation and mistakes. Background check companies can also provide information back to consumers to verify for themselves and possibly dispute or get repaired for employment and personal purposes.
Checks can help protect your organization from lost customers, data breaches and high turnover.
How In-Depth Is An Employee Background Check?
There's no hard and fast rule. Different employers have different background check processes and protocols. The depth of a background check is usually dependent on the company’s own employment policy and contractual requirements from their customers. However if the business is involved in certain sensitive industries, they may be held to a higher standard.
For some organizations the check may be quite superficial, such as checking that validity of a prospective employee’s social security number. However most firms demand a much deeper background check such as work history, driving records, degree verification, court records for the existence of a criminal record, or sex offender information.
There is certain information that cannot be included in an employment background check, for legal reasons. Background check laws also vary between states on what can be reported, and for how long. Some records can only be released if the person concerned signs the proper consent, which can even vary by city within a state.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act, or FCRA, provides the necessary governance to background check companies, furnishers of information, court researchers and Employers. It provides a framework on how firms are allowed to use personally identifying information about a consumer. Many States, cities and jurisdictions have entered the legal topic of personally identifying information by creating laws and statutes that are in addition to the federal FCRA regulations. Quite the heavy burden for the employer to manage, do things compliantly, and stay on top of a changing legal landscape.
Impact Employee Solutions consultants are experts in the various State and Federal laws and will work with you to build custom screening packages to meet your needs. It all starts with an understanding of your business.
IES Employee Background Check Services
In compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), State and local laws, our employee background check services assure you that the proper disclosures are provided, consent is received and the person being checked can ask for a re-investigation of a disputed report.
Background check options include:
We’ve made our employment background screening service fast and easy to use, via our secure online web application.
You can rely on us to deliver timely, thorough, and intelligent background checks for new or existing personnel, helping your organization make employment decisions with confidence and certainty.