When most people think of background checks, they think of searches into a potential or current employee’s past. This is true. Background check companies look for information about the subject’s educational and employment history, criminal records, and more. If it’s relevant to the position, background checks can turn up useful information that helps employers make hiring and dismissal decisions. But that’s not all they do. Here are four benefits of conducting background checks.
Keeping the Workplace Safer
Background checks do more than prove a person attended a certain school or worked at a specific place. They explore whether the individual earned the certifications, credentials, and degrees they claim to have and what sort of experiences they had elsewhere.
Hiring a candidate with a proven track record, good work habits, and safe behavior ensures a better workplace for everyone. A criminal record shouldn’t prevent someone from gaining employment. However, certain crimes may be relevant to the work in question and suggest a candidate might not be ideal (fraud in a business that handles finances and personal information, for example).
Regulatory Compliance
Some jobs demand impeccable backgrounds. Other companies may face fines or other punishments if it is discovered they’ve hired the wrong person. For example, schools and other educational facilities can’t hire individuals on sex offender lists. Likewise, DUIs and drug use might exclude someone from positions as drivers, pilots, or delivery personnel. Some government contracts state that employers can’t hire individuals with criminal records, among other reasons. Background checks help find the right people while adhering to regulations.
Brand Protection
The people you hire represent your company. Background checks help find individuals who are respected in their community, have the right qualifications, and who won’t reflect badly on you and your brand. Hiring someone with a questionable background or previous behavior that runs counter to your company’s ethics and standards can cause negative feedback and possible repercussions.
Company Unity
Background checks can positively influence company culture. Employees have the right to feel safe, secure, and valued. Hiring individuals who cause distress to others, make the work more difficult, and fail to contribute to the team can decrease employee morale.
Additionally, legal issues and lawsuits can result if someone is injured or otherwise abused by a bad hire. Moreover, if employees feel they can’t trust their employers to hire good workers, turnover is bound to increase.
All this can lead to greater expenses, lost time, shoddy products, poor service, and more. Even worse, you might gain a reputation as a bad place to work, making it even harder to find the right people.
Those are just four benefits of conducting background checks. If you have yet to institute a background check policy, start today and bolster your workforce with the best people.
