Should You Be Carrying Out Employee Background Checks?
While it might seem obvious that a company should carry out background checks before they take on any new workers, you’d be surprised to learn how few do. One common reason cited for not doing so stems from the cost; using the services of a pre-employment background check company naturally increases the overall cost of hiring, but this is not a valid excuse. The benefits of carrying out official background checks have been proven to outweigh the initial expenditure, and companies who have done so go on to reap the rewards of having a trustworthy network of employees who have no hidden surprises up their sleeves. Not to mention the fact that if your company becomes known as one that doesn’t carry out such checks, your staff will quickly be comprised of those with poor criminal and employment records.
Should you be carrying out employee background checks? When you take into consideration that recent studies have shown up to 51% of resumes contain misinformation about educational and employment achievements, not to mention a failure to disclose criminal convictions, it seems obvious that a background check would be beneficial. Whittling down the time wasters: Not only would a pre-employment background check find most discrepancies in prospective employee’s resumes, but in knowing that your company conducts them for all interviewees, applicants would be far less likely to give false or inaccurate information in the first place.
Attracting people who are right for the position being advertised, is made much easier when you are clear about your employment policies, and when you show that lying or embellishing information is not welcomed. Liability for negligent hiring: Whether you had no clue about an employee’s previous history, is irrelevant if a court of law decides that you should have known. If one of your employees injures another while at work or causes harm to a customer or member of the public, irrespective of whether the incident was during working hours or not, as the employer, you can be held liable.
Having full access to an applicant’s criminal and work history before you employ them, can help you to avoid such potentially costly incidents from occurring and spoiling the reputation of your company. Worth every cent: With a pre-employment background check costing on average, less than a full day’s pay, there are few good reasons not to use the services of a company to perform those checks on every applicant that you would consider for a role within your company.
To help protect your company, existing employees and of course, your clients, you should be having pre-employment background checks carried out for all future employees, even if their resumes look squeaky clean. Apollo Payroll is one of the premier small business payroll services companies in Miami and Coral Gables. Apollo Payroll is dedicated to delivering expert advice, responsive service, and highly accurate payroll processing and reporting to ensure the success and growth of the business that we serve. Our services include comprehensive payroll services in Homestead and other cities in Miami-Dade County, employee background check and group health insurance in Miami & Coral Gables