Business organizations hiring employees without a robust criminal record check mechanism are at huge risk of incurring long-term reputation damage. You may ask how. Let us explain with an example.
Suppose after a long and tiring hiring process, you recruit a candidate with a criminal history. And of course, the employee hasn’t revealed this specific information to you. Later, serious misdemeanors come to light shaking your business to the core and causing financial losses. Sounds worrisome, right?
What could be more appalling is that stakeholders, customers and investors unable to trust your company, potential employees thinking twice to join, and existing employees losing morale.
Companies, therefore, need to be vigilant and proactive. Relying on a trusted and experienced background check services provider would be the right decision. This is because BGV experts will handle employee detail checks while you can be at peace.
In this blog, find other strong reasons why employee criminal record checks are important and how they benefit businesses. Plus, learn what to do when you do find unrevealed criminal history in recruited employees.
Benefits of Conducting Criminal Record Check
Are you a small business? You need to protect your business from fraudulent candidates. Are you a large corporation? You can’t take criminal record checks lightly either. Here are the top 5 benefits of performing a criminal record check and making it a part of your hiring process.
· Safe workplace environment
More than ever before, top talent demands the right workplace to thrive, to be productive, and to offer the best outcome. It is the responsibility of the employees to make sure such an environment prevails where the team bonds well and works together towards one goal.
If you go wrong with hiring, employees with criminal leanings can pose a serious threat to the remaining employees. Things could go awry pretty quickly, especially in industries like finance and healthcare, where employee loyalty and ethics are paramount.
· Reduce legal liabilities
If your organization ends up hiring employees with criminal cases without running a background check, the legal mess would be excessively consuming in terms of money, time and effort. Unnecessary lawsuits could follow asking why the initial investigation wasn’t carried out properly. Additionally, if the employee does damage your business by engaging in criminal activities, the legal hassles would be endless.
This is the reason why partnering with background check services will benefit companies. [Read: Is Background Verification Mandatory in India?]
· Protect brand reputation
In the ever-evolving and competing business landscape of today, brand reputation is highly valuable. It is perhaps most important to stand out and to differentiate. Thus, to maintain the credibility of the organization and to preserve its quality, background verification should be made a priority. A strong verification process would also help in portraying your business as serious and one that maintains high standards.
· Better Hires
There’s another huge advantage; better hires, which is ultimately the objective for every business. Real and thorough professionals are the backbone of a company, and they add immense value at all levels. Background verification practices would give peace of mind to employers and managers and help them focus on their essential tasks.
· Save time and money
The hiring process is a daunting task. A lot of time and money is spent to initiate the process, advertise the vacant positions, conduct interviews and do onboarding. If the hired employee turns out to be a slacker, all the work will go to waste. Therefore, businesses can save time as well as money by doing a background check and avoid hassles.
Types of Employee Criminal Record Check
What does an employee criminal record check cover? How does a background screening company work? Find out below.
1. Criminal record search
Background verification experts use various techniques and the latest technologies to carry out criminal record searches. The process helps in acquiring essential information, finding out criminal cases if any, and other possible offences.
2. In-depth criminal history
If something unusual is found with the basic criminal record search, the background screening services can expand the verification and unearth criminal history, revealing essential details.
3. State and national level check
If your company wants to run a state and national-level check, you can partner with a background verification service like Calibehr with PAN-India services. This is important because, in India, employees migrate from one state to another in search of jobs.
For more details on how background verification works, read this blog: Importance of Pre-employment Background Verification Checks.
What Can Companies Do if Criminal History is Found?
Does a criminal record mean no hiring always? No. Here’s why:
In a recent court case ruling, the Allahabad High Court held that non-disclosure of the criminal background in the verification process is not always fatal to the candidate’s employment in case of acquittal in the end. Here’s the complete report of the court ruling on verification which has made interesting observations on the matter.
Please note that the case is related to a government vacant position while this blog should be considered as a generic discussion on the subject.
To summarize, companies should first understand the case on an individual basis. The company may show sympathy to the candidate, and the same can be discussed considering the kind of offence, acquittal, circumstances and related factors. Plus, hiring managers can assess the quality of the candidate, discuss it with leaders and then make the final decision.
Contact Calibehr for background verification services and hire only the best.
