Why Do a Background Check?

It’s a well-accepted fact that hiring a new employee is an investment, not only in terms of the time and money the employer invests in the recruitment process but also the labour and training resources dedicated to the new hire to help them succeed. Conducting background checks can help an employer make informed choices, avoid costly hiring mistakes and generally make them feel secure in their hiring decision. Background checks allow the employer to learn more about their prospective hire and to verify the information provided during the interview process. There are different types of background checks including professional and personal references, criminal record checks, employment verifications, credit checks and education verifications that employers can choose to use. Performing background checks have several benefits including eliminating unsatisfactory candidates, improving the safety and security in the workplace, protecting the company’s reputation, and protecting the company from potential loss and unnecessary risks.

Increase the Quality of Candidates and Avoid Bad Hires

It is not unusual to come across candidates who deliberately lie or misrepresent themselves on their resume – whether it be on their education qualifications, relevant work experience or in their qualified skills. Including various types of background checks as part of the hiring process means that employers are better equipped to catch these misrepresentations prior to hiring the new employee. Once applicants realize that this information will be verified through background checks, they are not as inclined to submit their application. By filtering out unqualified candidates, the remaining applicant pool will be filled with the best individuals who are qualified with the appropriate skills.

Improved Workplace Safety and Security

Background checks are a measure employers can use to help ensure the safety of their employees, clientele, and company information. Employers want to have a thorough understanding of who they are hiring, especially for those positions that have access to sensitive information. A background check and thorough screening can provide employers with information on a candidate’s past behaviour, which can help them gain insight on how they may behave in similar situations in the future.

Protect Company Reputation and Avoid Negligent Hiring

Companies can be held liable for their employees’ actions. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the company to ensure that they have taken all preventative measures when hiring. Not only can this prove to be a PR nightmare for a company’s reputation, but negligent hiring can be costly from legal, professional, and financial perspectives. This is because a company can be held accountable for both what they know and do not know about their hires. If a company has neglected to check the background or provide sufficient screening towards an employee and as a result an incident occurs that could have been prevented, the company can be held responsible.

Minimize Company Losses

Companies do not want to complete the entire hiring and onboarding process just to repeat it again because they made a hiring mistake which could have been avoided by taking a few extra steps. There’s no doubt that the amount of time and resources that go into a repetitive recruitment process would be better put toward other budgetary items. Not to mention, the increased frustration and subsequent low morale associated with having to redo the onboarding and training in such a short period of time. This can be mitigated by using the suite of background checks where a third, unbiased party delves into the professional history of a candidate.

All employers want to make the right and most informed decisions when they are investing in a new team member so that they can achieve their company’s targets and background checks are the must have tools for any company who wants to feel secure about each new employee they bring on board.