You have just extended a conditional offer to a job
candidate to fill that vacant position at your company. The conditional offer
is contingent upon the results of his/her background check. You follow FCRA
guidelines through the entire hiring/screening process. The background check is
completed, and you see that the candidate has no criminal record. Your job is
done now, right? The new hire has been deemed safe and his qualifications
acceptable. So you won’t ever need to screen him/her again, right? WRONG.
There are many reasons to re-screen your employees:
- Employees in safety-sensitive positions
- Employee have contact with customers
- Employees work with children/elderly
- A change in employee responsibilities
- A promotion gives an employee access to assets or sensitive employee info
Safety-Sensitive Positions
Re-screening
is important in some of the high risk positions, such as transportation or any
job requiring the operation of heavy machinery. In the transportation industry,
keeping track of one’s driving record is essential. You don’t want a reckless
or drunk driver operating a vehicle for your company. The operating of any
heavy machinery can be dangerous. For the safety of themselves, fellow
employees, and others, we recommend routine drug screening, another party of
the screening process.
Contact with Customers
When
your employees work directly with customers, you have an obligation to
regularly screen your employees. This is especially important when they work
inside customers’ homes. While a red flag may not have been spotted in the
pre-employment background check, criminal activity may occur during the
employment of an individual. A current look at an employee’s criminal history
can help ensure the safety of your customers.
Work with Children/Elderly
Children
and the elderly are particularly vulnerable. As an organization that deals with
either demographic, it is your duty to make sure you are not putting them at
risk. You have a duty to your customers to ensure that they are not exposed to
someone who is a sex offender or has a history of violence. An up-to-date look
at the criminal history of those who work with them is one way of protecting
this defenseless group.
Change in Employee Responsibilities
Whether
a lateral or vertical move is made by an employee, there will be changes in
responsibilities. And since your background check should be based upon the
responsibilities of the job, you may need to run a different or more thorough
search on the employee.
Access to Assets or Sensitive Employee
Info
A
promotion typically means more access to capital, other assets, or sensitive
employee information. Because of this, employers may want to initiate a more
involved background check. For example, work with the company’s finances may
warrant a credit check. When the employee was hired, his background check may
have consisted of only a national criminal search. This search casts a wide
net, but is not as reliable as screening at the local level. Therefore, it would
be prudent to order a county criminal search for a more up-to-date look at the
employee’s criminal history.
A recent survey determined that only about 30% of employers have an active program for
re-screening their employees. That is an alarming number. If you want to
protect your company, your employees, and your customer base, it is imperative
that you consider re-screening your workforce.
If
you are not sure where to begin with your company’s re-screening policy, start
by identifying the jobs that require re-screening. You can do this by
considering the following questions:
- What are the responsibilities of the position?
- How much access will the employee have to assets and/or customers?
- Is the position high-risk?
Once you have identified the situations that require
re-screening, craft a written policy to handle decisions, such as grounds for
termination based on the background check, and any possible disagreements that
may follow.
