Why Background Checks are Important
A business is only as good as the team that runs it. It is commonly believed in any kind of work environment and team exercise that the better the team works together and the more qualified each member is with regard to their particular job, the more the team is likely to achieve its goals and succeed. This is why it is crucial that businesses ensure they hire good people with reliable background for vacant slots in the team. Background checks are a great way of filtering out unwanted people and have become a part of the hiring process by most employers around the world.
Do You Know the Significance of Background Checks?
Background checks are important for a number of reasons, but the most important one is they save employers money and time. By filtering out individuals with background problems, employers save a number of costs that they would bear until the issue in the background comes through to the foreground and the employee has to be fired, such as the time and money they spend on training each new hire, and time and money they would then in many cases bear for a court battle with said employee when they sue the employer for unfair termination, etc.
Background checks require some time and a few phone calls requesting information from previous employers regarding the candidate’s personality and the police for criminal records. Having this information at hand during the selection process allows employers and HR managers to screen the right individuals for a job, especially if it is a position where personal trust is a determining factor.
Ensuring Background Check Compliance as an HR Manager
As a human resource management professional, or student, you must be vigilant with background check compliance. The task is sensitive in the sense that a misstep during your correspondence with previous employers might give the person being screened cause to seek misplaced legal reckoning if the job application with you does not work out.
To protect yourself and the organization from any unwanted legal battles out of aggrieved job applicants, a few steps can be taken to ensure background check compliance.
- The first step would be to make it a transparent process. This can be achieved by making background checks an open element of your hiring process. Include it in your handbook and any publications about the hiring process and also give your employees details about how you do it and what kind of information you seek. This will ward off any confusion caused and help them see you are only interested in getting the right person for the job.
- You can also ensure background check compliance by becoming familiar with the local laws in this regard and what limitations they have set for a background check’s use.
- You can further increase the integrity of your process by giving employees and candidates a chance to explain themselves if you discover something untowardly in their background check.
Our Products to Help You with Employee Background Checks Education
Lorman Educational Services is a veteran organization committed to delivering high-quality educational products to professionals in the HR field. Our webinars and online courses are filled with literature and presentations about various areas of HR management. Many of our products are also focused on employee background checks, as you can see below.
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Learn some of the fundamentals of background checks all the way to advanced background checks and screening. Each course is produced by some of the most knowledgeable faculty in the field. You can also get a lot more by going with an All-Access Pass and have an unlimited 12 month access to every course in our library. Start your learning today.
