HR Professionals Agree, Employment Background Checks are Necessary and Almost All Professionals are Using Background Screening
Background screening is an imperative part of the hiring process and a recent survey of Human Resource professionals by HR.com and the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (napbs) found that over 95% are conducting some sort of background check. The study surveyed professionals to find what sort of background checks they were using, which employees they were screening and when, and why they were using them.
When considering their background screening choices professionals mostly used criminal background checks 94% ran a Database/National Criminal check on all or some candidates and 97% ran a County/Statewide Criminal Search. Most professionals also felt Social Security Trace was important and 89% utilized this tool on all or some potential candidates. Finally, 77% used sex offender registry searches to screen all or some of their candidates.
When questioned on what type of employee’s professionals were screening they responded that for the most part they are screening full time candidates but still screen part time candidates at a high rate. 86% of employers questioned screen all their full-time employees and 68% screen all their part-time employees. Most employers screened the potential hires after a conditional job offer and that practice has grown since 2017 from 55% to 62% meaning more employers are background screening after the conditional job offer has been made rather than after the job interview and prior to the offer.
Employers have many reasons for using employee background checks, in this survey they detailed a few of the important ones. Safety was the most important reason for utilizing background checks, employers are concerned not only for their business but for their employees, and for their clients. They expressed their desire to protect their customers and employees and 86% of those surveyed noted this as the most important reason for screening employees. Other top reasons included improving the quality of hires, protecting company reputation and only 39% stated they conducted background checks because it was mandated by law.
You can read the entire report from NAPBS and HR.com here. HireSafe offers an entire suite of background check packages that server to protect your clients, employees and your company. If you’re interested in finding out more you can view our most popular background check packages, or if you’re not sure which package works best for you submit a consultation form and we’ll get back to you with our recommendation.