5 Reasons You Need to Conduct Employee Background Checks

For some businesses, running background checks can seem like an unnecessary expense. However, there are a variety of reasons that it's a smart idea to always be diligent about checking your employees' backgrounds, both before and after hiring them.

1. It Helps Weed Out Dishonest People

Quite frankly, about half of the applicants you receive for any one job opening will be lying to you about something. It might be something small like dates or a job description, but it might be something big, like revealing that an applicant never held that job at all, or lacks the qualifications they claim to have. When you have so many people applying for a single job, checking up on references, experience, and education can help make the pool of viable candidates that much smaller.

2. It Reduces Your Liability for Hiring Dangerous People

Obviously, if you notice on a criminal background check that someone has been convicted of a violent crime, you likely won't want to hire that person, as it represents a liability for your company. If they were to hurt a co-worker or a customer, your company might be on the hook for not doing your due diligence if a background check was not performed. Performing regular background checks before and after hiring ensures that you don't have any unstable people working in your company.

3. It Reveals Salient Convictions

For example, if you run a taxi company, you likely would not want to hire someone with several past convictions for DWI/DUIs. In the same way, someone with a history of aggression probably isn't best for a customer service position, and a person who's been convicted for shoplifting isn't the best candidate for a retail job. This information helps you make the best decision about hiring, and keeps you in the clear legally should anything unfortunate happen and your employee does something else illegal. Of course, a minor offense from two decades ago has little bearing on that person now, but it may be something to keep in mind.

4. It's Legal, and Provides Valuable Information

Background checks are a totally legal and often an expected tool for employers to use to help in their hiring process. As long as you follow the legal guidelines, using background checks is a great way to trim down an applicant pool and find the best employee for the job by confirming qualifications and education listed on a resume as well as revealing criminal convictions.

5. It Keeps Current Employees Accountable

While employees might choose to keep mum about arrests or convictions if they already have a job, fearing it might cost them their position, running regular background checks ensures that you will find out eventually. This may inspire an employee to be more upfront about any trouble they get into with the law, and that openness will in turn foster better relationships between your employees and management.

At Radius Investigations, we offer a variety of private investigation services, but we specialize in helping businesses protect their assets. We invite you to contact us about running due diligence background checks that can protect your interests and ultimately save you time and money.