Does Your Temporary Employment Service Conduct Background Checks on Employees?

Tis’ the season to hire temporary employees. With that being said, have you ever considered whether your temporary employment service conducts background checks on their employees?

If your company utilizes a temporary staffing agency – and many do over the holiday season – you need to take particular caution to ensure they conduct background checks for any employee place at your company. Specifically, the Association of Corporate Counsel offers these suggestions:

• Choose wisely. Use due diligence in choosing a temporary employment agency by conducting interviews and gathering sufficient information about their background.
• Put it in writing. Ensure that your contract with the temporary service includes language that requires the agency to conduct background checks. Moreover, make sure your contract contains an indemnify and hold-harmless provision because of the agency’s failure to conduct adequate background checks.
• Make them detailed. Experts recommend you make temporary employees go through the same background check as your regular employees.
• Outline communication guidelines. Make sure your contract stipulates how, what, and when background information on each temporary employee is communicated, as well as the steps that will be taken if negative information arises. Additionally, regularly review how you communicate your background check procedures on temporary workers to temporary staffing agencies.
• Provide supervision and training. Before placing any temporary employee in an assignment, review your supervision and training procedures to guard against potential issues such as identity theft.

Keep in mind that if you don’t use a temporary agency to hire seasonal staff, it is vital that you use the same due diligence when placing temporary employees on your payroll. That means finding a reliable applicant screening provider.

TruDiligence is a leading background check company providing background checks to the employment screening community for nearly 20 years. Our background check reports are fully compliant with the Fair Credit Reporting Act and other federal and state guidelines. Call us today and let us assistant you with all your background screening needs.