The Integrity News
"objective risk management news"
Vol. XV No. 2
ISSN 1081-2717
March 15, 2006
March 14, 2006
Companies know that they background check before
hiring for two (2) reasons:
they want to make sure that they hire only
applicants who meet their hiring criteria,
and
if they ever have to defend themselves, they
want to have the paper trail in their files
which proves that they did in fact act in a
prudent manner at the time of hiring and
did a thorough background check on the
individual.
"The recent admission by the former CEO of (a major
electronics company) that he inflated his educational
credentials shows that it is just as crucial for companies
to screen current employees as it is for them to screen
new hires."
According to the article, "the real mistake that (the
major electronics company) made was failing to do
another background check before it promoted him
to CEO". This particular incident had to do with
educational qualifications, but things can be hidden
that relate to Criminal and Civil events also.
"Companies need to incorporate background
checking into their talent management as well
as in their recruiting." And that is said from
the risk management, shareholder, lender, and
public perception points of view --- even before
one considers the ominous new requirements for
public companies of Sarbanes-Oxley (SARBOX).
"Over the last 10 years, an increasing number of employers
have begun to conduct background checks before bringing
employees on board. Ninety-six percent ( 96% ) of human
resource managers conduct background checks of SOME
kind ( Ed.: Unfortunately over half of those, according to
the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO), are merely
reference checks. ), up from 66% in 1996, according to the
Society for Human Resource Management." "What this
means for companies that have just begun screening in
recent years, or have acquired a group of new employees,
is that they may have a number of mid- and top-level
managers who have never been screened."
The article continues by saying that according to a major
resume consulting company, "42.7% of resumes have
significant inaccuracies". The GAO states this a little
differently by saying that "over 34% of resumes contain
bogus information".
"Many employers are hesitant to screen current
employees for fear of finding something wrong. If you
have an employee who has been doing a great job for
the last 10 years and then you find that they fibbed on
their resume ( Ed.: Or, on their Job App. ) you have a
dilemma." "On one hand, the company may have a
policy to terminate employees who have lied on their
resumes or Job Apps, but then again, you don't want
to lose many of your top performers." ( Ed.: The
article presumes that many current employees have
something significant to hide. )
"Also, employers resist screening current employees
for fear of affecting employee morale. They don't
want to seem like Big Brother." ( Ed.: This is not our
experience --- employees LIKE to work where they
know that their co-workers have been screened. )
"At the very least, companies should be able to show
clients, key employees, shareholders, investors, lenders,
and in the case of public companies, SARBOX, that they
DO screen employees before promoting them to higher
positions."
Keep in mind that not all screening of current employees
is to catch someone that was never screened, or catch
something that was missed at the time of hiring.
Things happen in employee's lives, sometimes creating
pressures that are unbearable, and which make even
the nicest folks do strange things. Significant medical
problems, the discovery of addictions of many kinds,
accidents, and many other realizations can cause good
people to do dumb things. You need to check their
recent background if you are going to expand their
responsibilities and/or authorizations.
As we have told all of our clients, these considerations
also include the fact that you need to have the proper
FCRA paperwork in each employee file. If you would
like to discuss 2006 practices for the screening of current
employees feel free to call
The Integrity Center, Inc.
at (972) 484-6140.
Helping you with your Risk Management and HR Automation is what we do.
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