Why do employers conduct background checks

Written by Tenant Screening Services, LLC

One little known fact about employers who conduct background checks is that it is not limited to prospective employees alone. Even existing employees are checked at least once. Sometimes more than once if they are up for a promotion or reassignment. According to a study conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management, approximately 60 percent of organizations conduct criminal background checks on all of their candidates. Here is why they do it:

Terrorism – Employers are now more keenly aware that there can be legal as well as image issues if one of their employees commits an act of terrorism. As a result there is now a much higher level of security and identity verification on employees by doing employer background checks.

Negligent hiring – The actions of an employee can create liability for the employer. As a result this causes employers to be much more cautions, especially in industries where employee negligence can cause direct harm to a customer. Pre employment checks are now mandatory for such organizations.

Scandals – Higher level executives, officers and even directors are now screened. This is to minimize the risk of a corporate or personal scandal affecting the company. That sort of scandal can be very bad publicity for the company. Public companies can have valuation changes based on such events.

Tenant Screening Services, LLC provides tenant screening services including an online employee background check.