| Employee background check refers to a | | | | 1. Negligent hiring: Nowadays, legal claims against |
| comprehensive checking and cross-checking of facts | | | | negligent hiring are on the rise. This term |
| and personal information pertaining to the information | | | | ‘negligent hiring’ refers to a situation where |
| that is furnished by the job seeker at the time of | | | | due to the misconduct or derogatory actions of a |
| hiring. | | | | particular employee, the company’s reputation is |
| The process of employee background check may | | | | poised on the verge of ruin. |
| involve checking and verifying the employee’s | | | | 2. Current events: In recent times, many current |
| address, education, previous employer and whether | | | | events have given way to formulate stricter |
| or not there is any kind of previous criminal record | | | | employee verification policies and application of a |
| etc. | | | | mandatory employee background check. These |
| Growing concerns that reinforce an employee | | | | include growing incidents of child abuse history, 9/11 |
| background check | | | | terrorist attacks, corporate scandals etc. |
| With growing incidents of workplace violence and | | | | 3. False or inflated information: A number of job hiring |
| data theft, the importance of employee background | | | | experts agree that nearly 30% to 40% of job |
| check cannot be underestimated. This has become a | | | | applicants provide false information and inaccurate |
| powerful tool in pre-employment verification as a | | | | facts in their applications. This propels companies to |
| number of CVs are populated with inaccuracies and | | | | invest in stricter implementation of employee |
| misleading facts on competencies or job history. | | | | background check measures. |
| The practice of carrying out stringent, employee | | | | 4. Easy to conduct procedure: The dawn of the |
| background checks will help companies, corporate and | | | | information era makes it easier and more effective |
| organizations to evaluate whether the prospective | | | | to conduct the background checks of employees in a |
| employee is honest or not. | | | | cost-effective and practical way. The availability of a |
| Reasons for conducting an employee background | | | | comprehensive criminal database within computers |
| check | | | | itself has made this an easy-to-conduct procedure. |
| Employee background checks are considered | | | | Social Networking and Employee Background Check |
| essential for current and prospective employees due | | | | A new concept of employee background verification |
| to several reasons. One reason is that employers do | | | | has been implemented by several employers. It has |
| not want to hire any employee who may have a | | | | been observed that employers check out the |
| suspicious background, criminal record, or issues | | | | prospective employee’s profile on popular social |
| relating to credit worthiness. This would reflect badly | | | | networking websites like Orkut, Facebook, MySpace |
| on a company’s repute and credibility in the | | | | etc. |
| market/ | | | | New and innovative measures will continue to grow |
| Other reasons for employee background check are | | | | as companies turn bolder in implementing employee |
| as follows: | | | | background checks. |