Three Ways Background Checks Create A Safe Workplace

As a responsible employer, your top concern should be to ensure that the company is able to harness the best out of its employees.

And in order to attain their optimum productivity, your employees should feel safe enough in the work environment provided to them.

This is where employment screening services companies come into the picture. They ensure that a thorough background check is performed on your employees. But why is such a check even necessary in the first place? And are there any benefits associated with it? In this article, we will examine all of these questions.

Importance Of Employment Screening Services & Background Checks

In the modern world with cut-throat competition, choosing the best employees for your company is more important than ever. But with high employee turnover, it is often difficult to pick the right staff. This is where background verification companies can help you. With their expertise in performing detailed employee background checks, they can assist you in your hiring process.

According to the HR Research Institute’s report for the year 2021, 95% of the organizations located in the US refer to employment screening services companies for fool-proof screening of their employees.

Background checks from one of the top employment background check companies ensure that the employees the company is going to invest in are competent enough for the industry. Moreover, they are important for the overall safety and security of your firm. Here we will be mentioning the top 3 means by which screening procedures help you have a safer work environment.

Here Are Three Ways Background Checks Create A Safe Workplace

1. Preventing Workplace Violence

Workplace violence is more prevalent than you think. According to the Labour department’s OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) reports, around 2 million workers in America are victims of workplace violence every year.

In the year 2020, workplace assaults alone resulted in about 20,050 injuries and more than 390 fatalities in the US. Specific industries, including education, healthcare, public transport, and service providers, are more vulnerable to workplace violence than others.

The chances of violence in the workplace might get triggered because of a few factors. It has been observed that the instances of workplace violence are high when people work in areas where alcohol is served and public dealings are high.

Screening and background checks from one of the best background screening companies can help you ensure that you don’t end up employing anyone with an objectionable criminal history. That way, there will be a lesser chance of workplace violence.

Also, while the employee screening service is working behind the scenes, you can make it clear to the potential employees that you have a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment in the workspace. This helps the candidates get accustomed to rules and regulations early on, and they can manage their behavior accordingly.

2. Continuous Monitoring Through Ongoing Screening

Thorough background checks are important in the hiring process. Your company might require the employees to interact directly with the customers, as in retail or healthcare. And in order to ensure the employees comply with the company standards, careful screening and monitoring are essential.

But is it necessary to continue the same screening process of your employees even after the hiring is done? Well, it certainly is! Healthy track records can be ruined over any period of time. Your employee could have faced criminal charges after you hired him or her. Hence, to ensure optimum productivity of your workforce and prevent any legal liabilities, ongoing screening is important.

Here are some aspects you might want to monitor your employee on:

• Criminal charges
• License status
• Drug charges
• Social media

As an employer, knowing the legalities behind pre-hire and ongoing screening of employees is important. Your monitoring policies should be aligned with Federal, State, and Local employment laws. If there is a condition of consent in your state laws, your company should comply with it. Many firms refer to employment screening services companies to take care of such legalities associated with background checks.

Another crucial thing is to ensure that your monitoring policy is transparent to your employees. In order to build a trustworthy relationship between the company and the employees, clear documentation of your screening procedures is essential.

Moreover, self-reporting mechanisms should be developed, where an employee should be allowed to report any recent arrests or criminal charges against him. This is only possible with open and clear communication of the company’s screening policies to the employees.

Thus, pre-hire and ongoing screening of employees by one of the top background verification companies help to significantly improve the overall work environment and make it safer for employees, the employer, and customers.

3. Following The Clues

As mentioned earlier, it takes no time for a completely healthy track record of an employee to be ruined. This calls for vigilant observations from the Human Resource Department of their employees. Recruiters should carefully follow their employee behavior.

Clues like falling job output, workplace accidents, or other reports of unhealthy conduct are indicators of many possibilities. In such cases, the employee might be facing personal challenges, involved in drug abuse, or other criminal charges. Concerned HR authorities should immediately study the case and reach a valid conclusion.

Moreover, if such instances happen on a regular basis with multiple employees, it might be time for the company to review its screening policies. The changes in the monitoring policies of the company should be made keeping in mind the rules and regulations of the respective state government.

Additionally, the existing screening policy should be updated with regard to the main objective of screening procedures, i.e., to create a safer workplace.

Conclusion

The modern world is dynamic and changes fast. In order to be at the top of their game, one should always strive for the best.

And building a quality workforce is more important than ever now. A good employment screening service can provide firms with professional employee background checks, helping them form the best workforce.

And to ace the game, always put on your best shoes and make sure that you provide safe working space for your employees.