Continuous Employee Background Screening Increasing in Popularity

Most likely, you’re familiar with pre-employment background screening, a process the involves verifying your potential employee’s criminal record, credit score, and employment record prior to hiring them. However, what you may not have heard of is continuous screening, a screening tool becoming increasingly popular with companies. A number of CEOs and HR managers who were interviewed by SHRM report they love continuous screening, as it allows them to keep tabs on employees for the duration of their employment.

New technological advances makes it much easier for companies to stay on top of an employees doings outside of the offices than they did before. Previously, businesses had to rely on the honor system, for employees to self-report a crime during their employment, if they had a policy at all. Now, online programs scan databases for your company.

Here are some of the ways these programs can continually check up on employees:

• Scan police reports for possible crimes committed. If your employee didn’t have a criminal record prior to being hired, but committed a crime while employed, you’ll be able to get that information without disclosure from the employee. This is important information, especially depending on your industry and the nature of the employee’s crime.
• Look for lawsuits or other financial risk factors. You’ll be able to find out if your employee is being sued, has a pattern of being litigious, or has a dramatic drop in their credit score. These factors are of particular importance if the employee has access to sensitive data or you’re in the financial industry.
• Catch lies from the pre-employment process. Sometimes, employees manage to fake employment histories or even get away with crimes going unreported while they’re applying for a job.

We believe the best background checks happen for the life of the employee’s tenure, not just right before they’re hired. Please contact us to get started with employee background checks to promote your business’ peace of mind.