Employee Background Checks-3 WC Blog 348
Pre-employment Screening-3
Stressful Workplaces Can Be Improved When Employee Background Checks Are Used Part 1
I haven’t had a good rant in a while so maybe this is the perfect time for me to go on one. My rant today is about stress in the workplace. It came up in at least two of my conversations this week and it caused me to recall times I went through my own stressful situations. It also made me start thinking about solutions to those situations. The first conversation was about the lack of accountability for employees who work in a friend’s store. Employees choose to call out on a regular basis, they don’t get work complete, some have a tendency to question directions of managers and roll their eyes when they don’t want to do something. Recently the store manager decided to bring back an employee who had at least 5 no-call no-shows on her record and had been let go. Is it any wonder there is stress in this store? I approached the second person about the possibility of applying for a temporary job where I work that would not interfere with his primary job. He is an assistant manager in my part time job. Having seen his work ethic and manner of dealing with personnel and customers I know he would be a good fit on my other team. He declined my offer because his wife was considering leaving her job due to stress in a management position at a campground. They have a young child and a new car payment and work their schedules around caring for their child. It’s a shame that stress in the workplace is influencing them to this degree. Life happens. Car payments, bills, school, house/rent payments, food, utilities, etc. it all is a fact of life, but how much easier would it be if work wasn’t so stressful on us? I can’t offer solutions to every issue but you KNOW I have a solution to part of the problems and suggestions for fixing other parts. It might surprise you but I think one way to start fixing stressful workplaces is to conduct pre-employment screening of employees.
By conducting employee background checks on prospective new hires, it is possible to identify red flags that could very well raise questions about whether someone should be on your team. It is possible to find that an applicant has been misleading about the length of time they worked for a company. Sometimes people will exaggerate how long they worked somewhere in order to hide gaps in employment. They may also use this technique to cover up that they worked somewhere else between jobs and were fired from there for one reason or another. A company that completes pre-employment screening can confirm if someone is eligible for rehire for a former place of employment. Though there are laws that can prevent a company from revealing why an employee was fired from a position, companies ARE allowed to confirm if that employee is eligible for rehire as a yes or no response. You as the prospective employer can use the information gathered from background checks in addition to any interview and hiring questionnaire results to make hiring decisions.
By vetting your candidates through pre-employment screening you can reduce the chances the candidate has been able to lie to you in the application process. Frequently those who are job hopping or are considered ineligible for rehire are problem performers in one fashion or another. It may be they have been the person who frequently calls out for shifts or has excessive no call/no shows on their record. There is a strong possibility that this is the person who is the gossiper and rumor-monger that stirs up strife in the workplace. You may not learn what the underlying causes were that led to the employment gap or lie, but if a discrepancy in employment history is found through employee background checks you can avoid bringing on that person who could be the cause of a stressful workplace. In Part 2 I will continue my rant and a few additional suggestions for making your workplace productive AND a place employees want to work at.
Need information on Employee Background Checks? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
I haven’t had a good rant in a while so maybe this is the perfect time for me to go on one. My rant today is about stress in the workplace. It came up in at least two of my conversations this week and it caused me to recall times I went through my own stressful situations. It also made me start thinking about solutions to those situations. The first conversation was about the lack of accountability for employees who work in a friend’s store. Employees choose to call out on a regular basis, they don’t get work complete, some have a tendency to question directions of managers and roll their eyes when they don’t want to do something. Recently the store manager decided to bring back an employee who had at least 5 no-call no-shows on her record and had been let go. Is it any wonder there is stress in this store? I approached the second person about the possibility of applying for a temporary job where I work that would not interfere with his primary job. He is an assistant manager in my part time job. Having seen his work ethic and manner of dealing with personnel and customers I know he would be a good fit on my other team. He declined my offer because his wife was considering leaving her job due to stress in a management position at a campground. They have a young child and a new car payment and work their schedules around caring for their child. It’s a shame that stress in the workplace is influencing them to this degree. Life happens. Car payments, bills, school, house/rent payments, food, utilities, etc. it all is a fact of life, but how much easier would it be if work wasn’t so stressful on us? I can’t offer solutions to every issue but you KNOW I have a solution to part of the problems and suggestions for fixing other parts. It might surprise you but I think one way to start fixing stressful workplaces is to conduct pre-employment screening of employees.
By conducting employee background checks on prospective new hires, it is possible to identify red flags that could very well raise questions about whether someone should be on your team. It is possible to find that an applicant has been misleading about the length of time they worked for a company. Sometimes people will exaggerate how long they worked somewhere in order to hide gaps in employment. They may also use this technique to cover up that they worked somewhere else between jobs and were fired from there for one reason or another. A company that completes pre-employment screening can confirm if someone is eligible for rehire for a former place of employment. Though there are laws that can prevent a company from revealing why an employee was fired from a position, companies ARE allowed to confirm if that employee is eligible for rehire as a yes or no response. You as the prospective employer can use the information gathered from background checks in addition to any interview and hiring questionnaire results to make hiring decisions.
By vetting your candidates through pre-employment screening you can reduce the chances the candidate has been able to lie to you in the application process. Frequently those who are job hopping or are considered ineligible for rehire are problem performers in one fashion or another. It may be they have been the person who frequently calls out for shifts or has excessive no call/no shows on their record. There is a strong possibility that this is the person who is the gossiper and rumor-monger that stirs up strife in the workplace. You may not learn what the underlying causes were that led to the employment gap or lie, but if a discrepancy in employment history is found through employee background checks you can avoid bringing on that person who could be the cause of a stressful workplace. In Part 2 I will continue my rant and a few additional suggestions for making your workplace productive AND a place employees want to work at.
Need information on Employee Background Checks? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
