Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/234597
Background Screening Employees Behaving Badly? Knowing what your workforce is up to makes re-screening worth every penny. By Audrey Roth According to the Society for Human Resource Management, 69 percent of organizations conduct background checks. But do employers know what these background checks could find if they conducted them post-hiring? Yes it's true—screening your current workforce is much more complex than the initial check of potential candidates. But the benefits make it a worthy consideration. "Bad behavior doesn't stop just because you hired them," says Ken Monroe, director of sales and operations of the screening, drug testing, and verification organization the Background Investigations Bureau. line up with the organization's standards which the employees participate in. Reasons for Re-Screening Screening of the current workforce is a more complex step to take than the initial background checks of potential candidates, but the propitious possible outcomes drive a broad range of motives for re-screening. A lot can occur over the course of employment. "You screen today, and that information is as good as the time that we ran it. But tomorrow that information becomes a day old. And in six months it becomes six months old. And so there becomes a need to re-screen," informs Ben Goldberg, president of background screening, drug screening, and other HR solutions company Aurico. Original screening information can become irrelevant. "A background check is a snapshot of data in time. It's static," reports Monroe. And a great deal can occur between this snapshot and present day. "A risky behavior that hasn't been caught yet doesn't change just because they got employed. What it means is they could get caught after they're employed." Think of it this way. Would knowing a certain criminal activity force an organization to alter employee access to privileged company information? If yes, then screening the current workforce is a valid consideration. The drivers to rescreen run the gamut: Maybe it has been six months or 10 years, maybe the employer never conducted a background check in the first place, maybe a criminal offense slipped through the cracks, or maybe the employee walked a path of faulty decision making since the time of hiring. Whatever it may be, it is valuable to know what activity doesn't Maintaining responsible business practices. One of the best ways to avoid negative legal repercussions resulting from negligent employment is to be fully aware of any current criminal activity within your workforce. This risk can be minimized by both backgrounds screening and re-screening. Whether a criminal offense is severe or mild, being oblivious to [56] HRO TODAY MAGAZINE | DECEMBER 2013