In general, an employer who fails to undertake a background check on a candidate hired for a risk-sensitive position may be held accountable for negligent hiring or retention if the employee later engages in significant misbehavior or criminal actions. As a result, the time and money you may save by not doing background checks pale in comparison to the expenses of defending yourself in a negligent hiring action. Conducting a background check helps you confirm the information provided by the person that you are about to hire for the organization. It can also reveal information that was either mistakenly or purposely suppressed, such as living in other locations where a criminal record may be found. 

These reports promote a safe and profitable workplace, and they are an excellent risk management tool that has been proven to reduce the possibility of disastrous hiring. Background checks can also reveal particular information about former work and help corroborate dates of attendance and degrees or certifications attained. 

Here are some listed mistakes that may take place during background screening that may affect your business in the long term: 

● Inadequate Consistency and Standardization of Practices 

Standardized and consistent processes enable people to execute the necessary steps without missing essential facts. Standardization also keeps your employees from having to reinvent the wheel every time they start a new procedure. The same may be said regarding the background screening procedure. To ensure full and complete results, all relevant actions must be taken in the correct order while performing background checks. Standardization by role is especially significant since it promotes uniformity across an entire job type and assists your business in avoiding mistakes caused by a separate background check process for each candidate. While multiple types of background checks can be used throughout the business, allowing the screening procedure to vary within the same job category is a mistake. 

Another reason to prevent screening irregularities within the same job category is the possibility of discrimination allegations. If you conduct several types of background screening on candidates for the same position, one or more of them may argue that they were subjected to background checks that were not uniformly applied to others. Finally, a lack of uniformity in the background screening process might lead to errors in recordkeeping. Manual or irregular processes for maintaining and storing background screening reports might result in lost information, double-entry, and, ultimately, hampered data analysis efforts. 

● Not screening every level of employee 

Hiring risk occurs at every level of the firm, which is why all hires should go through a rigorous background check. This does not imply that the same background check should be performed at every level or for every post. Those in delivery or transportation roles, for example, would require a driver history search as part of their background check, but candidates for executive positions would not. Employees at all levels should be screened, including temps, contractors, interns, and other non-employees. These individuals have access to clients, patients, and other workers, and they might constitute a risk if brought into the workplace without undergoing the same background check as employees. 

● Failure to Keep Up with Compliance Changes 

Given the rapidity with which the new law affects background screening, failing to stay up-to-date on compliance changes affecting recruiting and screening procedures is a mistake. Pay equality legislation, marijuana legalization, and “ban the box” regulations, for example, vary often from state to state and city to city, and companies cannot disregard them. Failure to comply with changing employment regulations can result in reputational harm, litigation, and expensive fines at the state and federal levels. 

● Relying too much or too little on technology 

It would be a mistake in our digital era not to embrace technology, which may increase productivity or provide a better customer experience. There is no exception to the use of technology in the background screening procedure. Background screening technology automates several components of the background screening process, such as requesting background checks, receiving results, and sending status updates on in-progress reports. Screening technology also interfaces with the Applicant Tracking System (ATS), saving recruiters time by avoiding double-entry and organizing applicant data as they progress through the interview and hiring processes. 

● Screening reports that are incomplete or inaccurate

You cannot make well-informed hiring judgments until you have thorough and accurate background screening data. That is why selecting a background screening partner based only on pricing is a bad idea. 

Paying less but receiving erroneous background check findings exposes you to higher recruiting risk, compliance risk, and potential lawsuits. Furthermore, if you make a recruiting decision based on false information, you may unwittingly select someone who will cause far more harm than good in the workplace. 

The issue of accuracy in background screening emphasizes the importance of balancing human judgment with technology. A background screening company that combines the best of human labor and technology can gather, verify, and provide reliable background check information more effectively than a company that depends only on people or technology. 

Conclusion 

A background check is just a verification of the candidate’s past in several areas, such as employment history, education, and identification. Some organizations go so far as to verify criminal investigation records and credit histories, although this is normally unnecessary unless you are hiring for a particularly sensitive position. Hiring a new employee is a major decision for any organization. Whether or not the candidate will perform and fit into the post is secondary, but a lot happens behind the scenes before the individual is hired, and knowing everything is a crucial stage. Always remember you need to hire an employee who can turn out to be an asset and not a liability 

Ratifys is a platform that is mainly used for professional services to empower the employer ecosystem and network, and it allows companies to verify and rate their employees.