Once you conduct an employee screening on job candidates and they pass with flying colors, you might feel that you don’t need to revisit the topic. However, circumstances can change in an employee’s life at a moment’s notice, making periodic background checks increasingly appealing to employers.
The same way you need to know whether an employee marries, changes his or her legal name, or moves to a new address, you need to know that your employee is maintaining the same lifestyle standards as expressed by the clean employee screening you found when he or she was hired.
What Do Background Checks Do?
Background checks have become an essential tool for hiring managers who want a picture of a job candidate’s life beyond the details given on an application, resume and cover letter. A professionally conducted background check can provide insight into a candidate’s character and overall approach to life and work.
Depending on the nature of your business, you can glean an array of crucial information from a background check. This information can help you keep your customers, staff and the subject of the background check safe and in good standing while the employee in question performs his or her duties on your premises or drives a company vehicle.
Here are some of the many types of background checks you might choose to conduct to help protect your business interests:
- Criminal records
- Background checks
- Driver records
- Employment experience verification
- Education history verification
- License verification
- Reference verification
When you obtain this type of high-value information from a reliable background check company, you can pick up on red flags faster and generally boost your chances of hiring the right person.
What Are the Benefits of Intermittent Background Checks?
If you are thinking of implementing re-screenings throughout your employees’ tenure, you might still wonder about the benefits of doing so. You might feel that it is costly or redundant, but it can add value to your ongoing relationship with each employee.
Let’s explore a few benefits of re-screenings. Re-screenings can:
- Increase safety and security by ensuring employees avoid negative behaviors including drug use, theft, fraud, driving violations and violence.
- Help correct issues with employees who have suddenly become problematic or have begun making costly errors. An employee re-screening can give you information that an employee might not proactively offer, including matters such as recent arrests or bankruptcies.
- Ensure continuous compliance with company policies and standards. A professional periodic employee screening can also help protect your HR department and your company from potential regulatory non-compliance infractions that could lead to litigation. Plus, it can help streamline regulatory compliance to avoid discrimination claims and other negative consequences of missing a red flag.
What Is the Process of Re-Screening Employees?
If you plan to reverify your employees, there are some important steps to take to ensure you do so legally and respectfully. Here is a process you might follow:
- Establish an across-the-board re-screening policy—respective to each employee’s department and position—to avoid discrimination issues.
- Many employers choose to wait at least 12 months before the first periodic employee screening. However, your timeframe might vary depending on the type of screening and the importance of compliance for the employee’s position.
- Select the relevant screenings to conduct.
- Develop a professional relationship with an experienced and respected background check company for thorough and efficient re-screenings.
What Might Prompt You to Re-Screen Employees?
There are many reasons you might want to develop and implement a sound re-screening policy, and the grounds don’t necessarily have to be negative.
Here are a few reasons you might choose to perform re-screenings of current employees:
- An employee receives a promotion and needs additional security clearance to handle financial or HR records.
- Your industry experiences changes in regulatory requirements.
- Your organization adopts and implements new screening requirements.
Partner With a Professional Re-Screening Provider
For decades, Global Verification Network (GVN) has served the business community, providing highly accurate credentials and background information regarding candidates and existing employees. We can streamline your re-screening process to help you determine where you stand with your employees at any time.
Contact the GVN team to learn more about our periodic employee screening strategies.