Managing your human resources department as a small business
owner introduces even more responsibilities to your already diligent work
schedule. Tasks like recruiting, scheduling interviews, managing employee
concerns, and maintaining standard HR policies can be incredibly time
consuming. One aspect you do not want to overlook however, is the process of
employee screening before hiring.
As mentioned
before, failing to conduct background checks can be costly to your business
for a variety of reasons. As a small business owner, making these mistakes
could result in your business failing as a whole. Being faced with
complications like negligent hiring claims, unintelligible details as to what
information you access of a potential employee, or violations of the Fair
Credit Reporting Act in general are typically things that can be handled well
by larger corporations. However, for entrepreneurs just joining the business
world, a negative claim of any sort can prevent their ideas from ever leaving
the ground.
Within small businesses, the relationships between employees
and their employer can develop quickly, forming a tight-knit bond with a sense
of trust, and dependency. Taking that into consideration, poor hiring decisions
can have a much more drastic effect on the company. Running background checks
on potential employees can ensure their effectiveness, values, and history as
an employee, upon which you can decide whether or not they are a good fit for
your small business. After that, screening employees during interviews gives
you insight to their character. Further evaluation of potential team members
can allow you to better judge how well they will work or get along with your
already small staff.
Before hiring an employee, many small business owners rely
on just an applicant’s resume and interviewing skills due to the fact that
background checks can, at times, take longer than anticipated. Additionally,
small business managers may see pre-employment screening as an expendable task
that will save money and resources. Those who to do so tend to rely on social
media or search results on the internet when making their hiring decisions. Not
only can this give inaccurate information, but federal
and state laws are set in place to prevent some employers from doing this
altogether. These laws were established to prevent both legal and ethical
problems, and we, as a third-party screening company, can provide the
information you are seeking without violating the privacy of the candidate.
For small business owners who choose to implement background
checks upon hiring new employees, a number of considerations should be taken
into account. Be sure to establish a hiring and screening policy, clearly laid
out within the job description for applicants. Through this, it is important to
ensure accurate data, which you can accomplish by allowing the applicants to
apply through an online portal, giving security and confidence throughout the
process.
