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Employee Background Checks Give You the “Fair Chance” in the Ban-the-Box Movement
“Ban the box” is gaining ground as a movement to remove the checkbox on employee applications asking about criminal history in order to give applicants with a criminal history past a fair chance. That is great! I believe in second chances and that people who have made mistakes in the past can change but that does not mean that we as employers can just ignore that past or just hope that someone has changed. We are betting our business on that “hope” as internal theft or mistreatment of our customers can kill our business. The prospective employee has an advocate for a “fair chance.” What about the employer? Employee background checks are an employer’s “fair chance.”
It makes sense that we should have an opportunity to get to know the whole person when they apply for one our positions and not just eliminate them because they checked a box. I have no difficulty with that and the intent of “ban the box.” Getting to know the whole person, however, must include pre-employment screening by a reputable background check company. It is then that we get the picture of the whole person and are able to use the information gained along with our interview and other screening tools to determine what level of risk we are willing to assume. We know there is risk with every hire but we also know that past performance is the best indicator of future success and that, for some positions, we cannot afford to assume the risk of having a convicted felon in that position. Employee background checks give us the opportunity to at least get the information so we can make that intelligent decision.
Because companies do not have access directly to police records through the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) we have to rely on a background check company to access the information for us through databases and visits to court offices to view original records. It is important that we have the right partner in conducting the pre-employment screening so that all the requirements of state and federal law are met and the information that is obtained is accurate.
I have worked with a variety of background check companies in my career and believe you have to do some pre-screening yourself before taking on that partner. You should what you want in that background check company. Many offer these services and you need to know which ones you want:
• Misdemeanor and felony criminal records for county, state and national jurisdictions
• Sex offender status
• Social Security number trace and validation
• Employment verification
• Reference checks
• Credit checks
• Civil record checks
• Motor vehicle records checks
• Military records verification
• Worker’s compensation history
• Address history.
Once you determine what services you are interested in pursuing you can look at the background check company and ask some important questions:
• Can the company provide the services you are looking for?
• Does the company provide proof that there is Fair Credit Report Act compliance?
• Are the costs reasonable for what you want?
• Does the company provide forms either in paper format or on-line for the applicant to complete?
• How long is it going to take to get the results? There should be a window here varying from a “clean” check to one where they have to do manual records and you should have them provide those extremes as well as the average time.
• Are the results easy to read or do you need to have a lawyer review them to understand them – which you don’t want?
• Does the firm have accreditation through the National Association of Professional Background Screeners?
• Does the company provide you a web portal or link to your on-line application process or is it all done by paper and fax, email or regular mail?
Once you have done your due diligence and have engaged a background check company as a partner you can begin your pre-employment screening process with confidence. You then have your “fair chance” to make intelligent decision to protect your business and your customers. The “ban the box” movement is not the enemy. They just make it more important that we meet the applicant’s fair chance with a fair chance of our own!
For more information about employee background checks contact us at www.backgroundcheckexperts.net or call 1-770-426-0547.
“Ban the box” is gaining ground as a movement to remove the checkbox on employee applications asking about criminal history in order to give applicants with a criminal history past a fair chance. That is great! I believe in second chances and that people who have made mistakes in the past can change but that does not mean that we as employers can just ignore that past or just hope that someone has changed. We are betting our business on that “hope” as internal theft or mistreatment of our customers can kill our business. The prospective employee has an advocate for a “fair chance.” What about the employer? Employee background checks are an employer’s “fair chance.”
It makes sense that we should have an opportunity to get to know the whole person when they apply for one our positions and not just eliminate them because they checked a box. I have no difficulty with that and the intent of “ban the box.” Getting to know the whole person, however, must include pre-employment screening by a reputable background check company. It is then that we get the picture of the whole person and are able to use the information gained along with our interview and other screening tools to determine what level of risk we are willing to assume. We know there is risk with every hire but we also know that past performance is the best indicator of future success and that, for some positions, we cannot afford to assume the risk of having a convicted felon in that position. Employee background checks give us the opportunity to at least get the information so we can make that intelligent decision.
Because companies do not have access directly to police records through the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) we have to rely on a background check company to access the information for us through databases and visits to court offices to view original records. It is important that we have the right partner in conducting the pre-employment screening so that all the requirements of state and federal law are met and the information that is obtained is accurate.
I have worked with a variety of background check companies in my career and believe you have to do some pre-screening yourself before taking on that partner. You should what you want in that background check company. Many offer these services and you need to know which ones you want:
• Misdemeanor and felony criminal records for county, state and national jurisdictions
• Sex offender status
• Social Security number trace and validation
• Employment verification
• Reference checks
• Credit checks
• Civil record checks
• Motor vehicle records checks
• Military records verification
• Worker’s compensation history
• Address history.
Once you determine what services you are interested in pursuing you can look at the background check company and ask some important questions:
• Can the company provide the services you are looking for?
• Does the company provide proof that there is Fair Credit Report Act compliance?
• Are the costs reasonable for what you want?
• Does the company provide forms either in paper format or on-line for the applicant to complete?
• How long is it going to take to get the results? There should be a window here varying from a “clean” check to one where they have to do manual records and you should have them provide those extremes as well as the average time.
• Are the results easy to read or do you need to have a lawyer review them to understand them – which you don’t want?
• Does the firm have accreditation through the National Association of Professional Background Screeners?
• Does the company provide you a web portal or link to your on-line application process or is it all done by paper and fax, email or regular mail?
Once you have done your due diligence and have engaged a background check company as a partner you can begin your pre-employment screening process with confidence. You then have your “fair chance” to make intelligent decision to protect your business and your customers. The “ban the box” movement is not the enemy. They just make it more important that we meet the applicant’s fair chance with a fair chance of our own!
For more information about employee background checks contact us or call 1-770-426-0547.
There is quite literally, an endless supply of thieves with a seemingly endless array of ways they will target our stores. One method that has gained some steam recently is off the floor refunds. Chances are your store has a return policy, but is it designed to be anti-shoplifting? It most likely isn’t, and a faulty return policy can really have a negative impact on your bottom line.
A few days ago one of my stores contacted me with an interesting theft. After getting the pertinent information, I began my investigation. The first transaction I looked at was a refund to a customer for a large ticket item. It was a very expensive piece of clothing item that was brand new to the stores. Upon reviewing the CCTV footage, I could still very clearly see the checkpoint tag that was used to secure the product in the store. Surely we would’ve taken this off for a customer at the time of purchase. So, the next thing I did was review any sales of that particular sku for that store since that merchandise had arrived. Shockingly enough, there were none. A little more research showed that this customer had arrived to the store empty handed. Video showed her select the item from the rack and present it to the service desk. Due to the inattentive cashier, we gave away a $400 store credit.
You can have all the anti-shoplifting devices money can buy in your store, but it doesn’t mean a thing if your employees are complacent in their roles. Had the cashier paid just a little more attention, they would’ve notice the anti-shoplifting device still affixed to the product. They also would’ve noticed that the product hadn’t been tagged with a return sticker from the associate at the front door.
It’s no surprise that this customer came back a few days later and did the exact same thing to the exact same cashier. Again, a large ticket item, still secured with a checkpoint tag. This time, it was a $300 store credit. This individual then conducted that very same act nearly a dozen times before a manager had a suspicion and reported it to me. What’s more disturbing is how negative this act is to the store’s bottom line. Not only did the thief get a $400 store credit, they then purchased additional merchandise with that credit, causing in reality, an $800 loss. Times this by 12 and the total quickly topped the thousands of dollars range.
So what can you do in order to prevent your store from being the victim of this fraud scheme? For starters, have a solid return policy in place. Whatever make sense for your business. You have to take returns back. It’s just a matter of doing business, but you can limit the number of non-receipted refunds or outright deny them. Also train your cashiers. If a customer presents an item that still has a checkpoint tag attached to it, they should probably contact a manager. You want to find a balance of having an anti-shoplifting refund policy, all while keeping your honest customers happy. By doing so, you give your customers the ability to shop with confidence all while sending the thieves to a store down the road with looser policies.
For more information, contact us: KW, or call 1.770.426.0547
There is quite literally, an endless supply of thieves with a seemingly endless array of ways they will target our stores. One method that has gained some steam recently is off the floor refunds. Chances are your store has a return policy, but is it designed to be anti-shoplifting? It most likely isn’t, and a faulty return policy can really have a negative impact on your bottom line.
A few days ago one of my stores contacted me with an interesting theft. After getting the pertinent information, I began my investigation. The first transaction I looked at was a refund to a customer for a large ticket item. It was a very expensive piece of clothing that was brand new to the stores. Upon reviewing the CCTV footage, I could still very clearly see the Checkpoint Tag that was used to secure the product in the store. Surely we would’ve taken this off for a customer at the time of purchase. So, the next thing I did was review any sales of that particular sku for that store since that merchandise had arrived. Shockingly enough, there were none. A little more research showed that this customer had arrived to the store empty handed. Video showed her select the item from the rack and present it to the service desk. Due to the inattentive cashier, we gave away a $400 store credit.
You can have all the anti-shoplifting devices money can buy in your store, but it doesn’t mean a thing if your employees are complacent in their roles. Had the cashier paid just a little more attention, they would’ve noticed the anti-shoplifting device still affixed to the product. They also would’ve noticed that the product hadn’t been tagged with a return sticker from the associate at the front door.
It’s no surprise that this customer came back a few days later and did the exact same thing to the exact same cashier. Again, a large ticket item, still secured with a Checkpoint Tag. This time, it was a $300 store credit. This individual then conducted that very same act nearly a dozen times before a manager had a suspicion and reported it to me. What’s more disturbing is how negative this act is to the store’s bottom line. Not only did the thief get a $400 store credit, they then purchased additional merchandise with that credit, causing in reality, an $800 loss. Times this by 12 and the total quickly topped the thousands of dollars range.
So what can you do in order to prevent your store from being the victim of this fraud scheme? For starters, have a solid return policy in place. Whatever make sense for your business. You have to take returns back. It’s just a matter of doing business, but you can limit the number of non-receipted refunds or outright deny them. Also train your cashiers. If a customer presents an item that still has a Checkpoint Tag attached to it, they should probably contact a manager. You want to find a balance of having an anti-shoplifting refund policy, all while keeping your honest customers happy. By doing so, you give your customers the ability to shop with confidence all while sending the thieves to a store down the road with looser policies.
For more information, contact us at Anti Shoplifting, or call 1.770.426.0547
GOING FISHIN’ WITH CHEKCPOINT LABELS
Last week we hired a new LP agent for one of my markets. This particular market hasn’t always had a shoplifting problem; however, over the past year we’ve seen a dramatic increase in shoplifting and organized retail crime in this area. After seeing some pretty significant losses in the store, I had to put my foot down. We needed to find the budget for some additional LP resources and ultimately we needed to stop shoplifting in this store. We got to the point where the thieves were having a direct impact on the bottom line.
After months of begging and pleading I got my wish. I recruited a pretty strong candidate for the position and within a few weeks, we were ready to start training. As with all of my new hires, I personally conduct the first week of training. This way, I can set the standard for what I expect from my team. So I traded in my business attire for some cargo shirts and a t-shirt and we hit the floor. I made one thing clear to my new hire. I was putting him in place for one reason and one reason only; to stop shoplifting.
Within hours of our first shift working together, two females had entered the store to make a refund. The front end supervisor called to us as he felt it was a bit suspicious in nature. Return fraud is very prevalent in this market, so anytime something doesn’t seem right, the managers are all over it. Turns out, the two females were able to return about $350 worth of assorted fishing line. Most of the line retailed for $69.99 each! This was for your serious fisherman, so I was convinced it had been stolen. Sure enough, we check store’s inventory and they were missing the same amount of line that had been returned. It was time to let the checkpoint labels do their jobs.
Since they weren’t already tagged in any way, we decided to use some checkpoint labels to secure the store’s inventory on these high priced spools of fishing line. If there was a way to stop shoplifting on these items, this had to be it. Once the product was secured, I went ahead and did some additional research on other returns in the past two weeks of this same product. My research showed that these same women had returned the exact same items on 4 other occasions. Each time, they received a store credit and the credit was immediately spent by a 3rd female to purchase large quantities of denim jeans. We couldn’t quite find the theft of the merchandise, but I was confident that the checkpoint labels would help us out there.
Thieves are natural creatures of habit. By mid-week, training was going great. We had made several shoplifting stops and recovered quite a bit of product. It’s always great to see your budget dollars at work. It was getting close to quitting time when the door greeter called us, almost in a panic. We responded to front of the store where we learned that 2 women had just exited the store, with nothing but a purse. Upon their exit, they set off the EAS system. Without seeing any criminal activity at that point, we returned to the LP office and reviewed the camera system.
It was our same females that had been making the suspicious fishing line returns. CCTV showed that they once again were able to steal several hundred dollars worth of fishing line, only this time; the checkpoint label alerted us to their activity. Within an hour, they returned to the store to get a gift card for the stolen product. Only this time, they received a free pair of silver bracelets instead.
For more information on Checkpoint Labels contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
Last week we hired a new LP agent for one of my markets. This particular market hasn’t always had a shoplifting problem; however, over the past year we’ve seen a dramatic increase in shoplifting and organized retail crime in this area. After seeing some pretty significant losses in the store, I had to put my foot down. We needed to find the budget for some additional LP resources and ultimately we needed to stop shoplifting in this store. We got to the point where the thieves were having a direct impact on the bottom line.
After months of begging and pleading I got my wish. I recruited a pretty strong candidate for the position and within a few weeks, we were ready to start training. As with all of my new hires, I personally conduct the first week of training. This way, I can set the standard for what I expect from my team. So I traded in my business attire for some cargo shirts and a t-shirt and we hit the floor. I made one thing clear to my new hire. I was putting him in place for one reason and one reason only; to stop shoplifting.
Within hours of our first shift working together, two females had entered the store to make a refund. The front end supervisor called to us as he felt it was a bit suspicious in nature. Return fraud is very prevalent in this market, so anytime something doesn’t seem right, the managers are all over it. Turns out, the two females were able to return about $350 worth of assorted fishing line. Most of the line retailed for $69.99 each! This was for your serious fisherman, so I was convinced it had been stolen. Sure enough, we check store’s inventory and they were missing the same amount of line that had been returned. It was time to let the checkpoint labels do their jobs.
Since they weren’t already tagged in any way, we decided to use some checkpoint labels to secure the store’s inventory on these high priced spools of fishing line. If there was a way to stop shoplifting on these items, this had to be it. Once the product was secured, I went ahead and did some additional research on other returns in the past two weeks of this same product. My research showed that these same women had returned the exact same items on 4 other occasions. Each time, they received a store credit and the credit was immediately spent by a 3rd female to purchase large quantities of denim jeans. We couldn’t quite find the theft of the merchandise, but I was confident that the checkpoint labels would help us out there.
Thieves are natural creatures of habit. By mid-week, training was going great. We had made several shoplifting stops and recovered quite a bit of product. It’s always great to see your budget dollars at work. It was getting close to quitting time when the door greeter called us, almost in a panic. We responded to front of the store where we learned that 2 women had just exited the store, with nothing but a purse. Upon their exit, they set off the EAS system. Without seeing any criminal activity at that point, we returned to the LP office and reviewed the camera system.
It was our same females that had been making the suspicious fishing line returns. CCTV showed that they once again were able to steal several hundred dollars worth of fishing line, only this time; the checkpoint label alerted us to their activity. Within an hour, they returned to the store to get a gift card for the stolen product. Only this time, they received a free pair of silver bracelets instead.
For more information on Checkpoint Labels contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
