WHY IS IT REQUIRED?

Employees are the most valuable assets of the organization. The organizations are focused on hiring the best candidates to achieve growth, turnover and competitive advantage. While hiring attention is on selecting candidates with the required soft and technical skills, there is very limited emphasis on knowing the prospective employee’s background and determining the true identity of the person.

Given the backdrop that terrorists, financial crime groups, narcotics dealers etc. are implanting their resources within the organization for the purpose of obtaining sensitive information or providing their resources a discrete cover, it becomes critical for organization to have proper screening processes.

Secondly, various reports issued by consultancy companies indicate that at a minimum, 25% of candidates submit false or inaccurate resumes. The inaccuracies normally are relating to salary, job title and duties, education etc. Considering this, the honest candidate looses out on the job and a dishonest candidate is selected since reliance is primarily placed on the resume.

The pre-employment background screening process also helps in complying with some of the country and industry specific regulations and laws.

An incorrect hire can result in financial, legal, operation and reputation loss and damage. Additionally the organization incurs the cost of hiring, training, etc. If a serious offence is done by the employee there is significant reputation damage and employee morale loss. A well-developed and implemented policy can substantially mitigate these risks and resultant losses.

 

A few examples of incorrect hire are:

 

• A financial crime group based in London implanted an employee in the outsourcing unit of the bank in India in the call center process. The employee provided critical customer information by accessing the database to the financial crime group. The group conducted account takeover frauds in London for over $500,000 in a span of two months. The employee had submitted false employment records which could have been detected at the time of hiring.

• An employee joined an organization which relied on the education and employment checks done by the previous employer. The employee had falsified the information with the previous employer which had remained undetected. Subsequently, the employee was suspected to be involved in terrorist activities.

• A senior manager was hired from another country without conducting the required due diligence. It was determined at a later date that the senior manager had falsely stated his technical qualifications.

• An organization outsourced the transport of its employees to a vendor. A cab driver with previous history of sexual assault was hired without verification for commuting female employees at night. The cab driver raped one female employee when she was alone in his cab.

 

​Still not convinced by these examples:

 

• Just ask the school district that hired a janitor with a history of convictions for sex-related crimes. The janitor was later accused of molesting a 10-year old boy.

• Or ask the credit union that lost more than $150,000 to the fraudulent schemes of an employee who had been previously convicted of insurance fraud.

• Or ask the Club 100 Company that had to fire an executive who had lied about his education and misrepresented his prior employment.

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As regrettable as these incidents are, the saddest part is that they could have been prevented. Accurate background checks of these individuals would have revealed their previous convictions and fabricated credentials and work experience.

Knowing an employee's background can be the best indicator of their future performance. While it is true that people can change -- and often they do -- it is still your responsibility to gather all the facts before making a hiring decision.

Our thorough and accurate pre-employment reports can help you avoid those costly hiring mistakes.