background investigation – 5                                                                                        WC blog 846
Pre-Employment Screening-3

Failing To Conduct A Background Investigation Is A Recipe For Disaster

     Does your business conduct a background investigation before hiring a new employee? If not you might be inviting trouble in your workplace. There is always a measure of risk involved in hiring a new employee. Will they have the skills to do the job you are hiring them to perform? Will they become an attendance problem? Do they have a criminal record you may not be aware that they have? If they do, what is that record for, theft, assault, driving while intoxicated? The task of hiring new people is not easy and if not done properly it can cause problems for you and your store.

     Do you need an example? How about this story from montrealgazette.com,“Fake nurse in Quebec discovered and fired – after 20 years on the job”, by Presse Canadienne, June 1, 2019. The story reports on a woman who had worked in various departments of the hospital over the course of 20 years. According to the report, “Before being exposed, the woman had worked in several departments of the hospital, including the operating room.” The story also says, “Over the years, the documents asked of her were provided – falsified documents.” This should give you a moment of pause while considering the potential ramifications this could have had to patients in this hospital. Someone can provide documentation to “prove” qualifications but without conducting thorough pre-employment screening an owner or manager can be fooled.

     To show that this is not restricted to the medical field an article in voiceofsandiego.org, “San Diego Unified Moved a Problem Principle to Districtwide Role, Then Paid Him to Leave”, by Will Huntsberry, April 2, 2019. This story reports a principle, “…appeared to have falsified his credentials – presenting a Ph.D. from a University in England that seemed to be nothing more than a website.” More than just a problem of being in a position he was not qualified to hold, it seems from the story that the subject of this story had also been involved in sexual harassment and created a hostile work environment at a high school he had previously worked in. You may not be running a school but you are running a business and your employees are counting on you to maintain a safe workplace. A background investigation can validate credentials of your potential new hires before you bring them on your team.

        Pre-employment screening done by a reliable company can help a business avoid a wide range of potential problems. If you require drivers for deliveries you will want to make sure the applicants have clean driving records. Are you seeking to hire an account for your bookkeeping? Hire a background investigation company that can validate the credentials of a promising candidate. If you own a retail business you have multiple employees. Keep them safe from a new co-worker who could be a sexual predator. A pre-employment check can include a review of the national sex offender registry to ensure your candidate is not listed. The right company can tailor screenings to include those areas you believe are most critical to your business. If you aren’t sure what those areas should be that company should be able to help guide you based on your business and what the position will entail.

     Since most of the readers will be retail owners and managers I would also point out that pre-employment screening can lead to a reduction in stock shortage. Employee theft accounts for roughly 1/3 of all merchandise shortage. By conducting a background investigation on applicants a store owner greatly reduces the chance that a future criminal will be hired. If background checks are part of a comprehensive shortage reduction plan that also includes manager training to reduce employee theft and the installation of a Sensormatic security system, risk of internal theft can almost be wiped out. 

     As we all know one-stop shopping is the easiest and often most efficient way to get everything done. How can anyone bundle a background investigation, a Sensormatic system and manager training without having to look all over the internet? How can anyone do this and be confident they will get reputable resources for each of these needs? Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. has the solution for all of these and more. When it comes to shortage and theft reduction this company has the retail and investigation experience to help any store owner know matter how big or small the company. Hiring the right people and improving profitability for stores is what they specialize in and they can do the same for you.
Need more information on a background investigation? Call us at 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.  
     

Does your business conduct a background investigation before hiring a new employee? If not you might be inviting trouble in your workplace. There is always a measure of risk involved in hiring a new employee. Will they have the skills to do the job you are hiring them to perform? Will they become an attendance problem? Do they have a criminal record you may not be aware that they have? If they do, what is that record for, theft, assault, driving while intoxicated? The task of hiring new people is not easy and if not done properly it can cause problems for you and your store.
     

Do you need an example? How about this story from montrealgazette.com,“Fake nurse in Quebec discovered and fired – after 20 years on the job”, by Presse Canadienne, June 1, 2019. The story reports on a woman who had worked in various departments of the hospital over the course of 20 years. According to the report, “Before being exposed, the woman had worked in several departments of the hospital, including the operating room.” The story also says, “Over the years, the documents asked of her were provided – falsified documents.” This should give you a moment of pause while considering the potential ramifications this could have had to patients in this hospital. Someone can provide documentation to “prove” qualifications but without conducting thorough pre-employment screening an owner or manager can be fooled.
     

To show that this is not restricted to the medical field an article in voiceofsandiego.org, “San Diego Unified Moved a Problem Principle to Districtwide Role, Then Paid Him to Leave”, by Will Huntsberry, April 2, 2019. This story reports a principle, “…appeared to have falsified his credentials – presenting a Ph.D. from a University in England that seemed to be nothing more than a website.” More than just a problem of being in a position he was not qualified to hold, it seems from the story that the subject of this story had also been involved in sexual harassment and created a hostile work environment at a high school he had previously worked in. You may not be running a school but you are running a business and your employees are counting on you to maintain a safe workplace. A background investigation can validate credentials of your potential new hires before you bring them on your team.
       

Pre-employment screening done by a reliable company can help a business avoid a wide range of potential problems. If you require drivers for deliveries you will want to make sure the applicants have clean driving records. Are you seeking to hire an account for your bookkeeping? Hire a background investigation company that can validate the credentials of a promising candidate. If you own a retail business you have multiple employees. Keep them safe from a new co-worker who could be a sexual predator. A pre-employment check can include a review of the national sex offender registry to ensure your candidate is not listed. The right company can tailor screenings to include those areas you believe are most critical to your business. If you aren’t sure what those areas should be that company should be able to help guide you based on your business and what the position will entail.
     

Since most of the readers will be retail owners and managers I would also point out that pre-employment screening can lead to a reduction in stock shortage. Employee theft accounts for roughly 1/3 of all merchandise shortage. By conducting a background investigation on applicants a store owner greatly reduces the chance that a future criminal will be hired. If background checks are part of a comprehensive shortage reduction plan that also includes manager training to reduce employee theft and the installation of a Sensormatic security system, risk of internal theft can almost be wiped out. 
     

As we all know one-stop shopping is the easiest and often most efficient way to get everything done. How can anyone bundle a background investigation, a Sensormatic system and manager training without having to look all over the internet? How can anyone do this and be confident they will get reputable resources for each of these needs? Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. has the solution for all of these and more. When it comes to shortage and theft reduction this company has the retail and investigation experience to help any store owner know matter how big or small the company. Hiring the right people and improving profitability for stores is what they specialize in and they can do the same for you.

 

Need more information on a background investigation? Call us at 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.