Do Companies Rely on Background Checks for Employment Too Much?
Many companies rely on background checks for employment. They are an important part of any organization’s employment screening process. They allow employers to verify that applicants are who they say they are and meet the minimum requirements. It’s important that employers trust their employees and are confident that they have the education, training, and certification necessary to perform their jobs efficiently, accurately, and professionally.
Any oversight in a person’s background that leads to unethical, illegal, or unprofessional practices and behavior can be detrimental to a company’s reputation. It can also put customers and clients at risk. So, to be sure organizations hire the right people whom they can trust, background checks for employment will continue to be an important process.
But where can this go wrong? Are background checks always ethical? Can they lead to discrimination? Can too many background checks be a bad thing? Find out how you can conduct background checks ethically while remaining compliant and protect yourself and your applicants.
Are Background Checks Ethical?
Background checks for employment help companies reduce the risk of hiring individuals who might pose a threat to workplace safety, engage in misconduct, or have a history of financial or legal issues. In certain industries (e.g., healthcare, finance, or education), background checks are legally required to protect vulnerable populations or ensure the integrity of sensitive information.
Background checks are completely legal when the information is used ethically for employment reasons. According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), it is completely legal for organizations to request your SSN and use it for any purpose that does not violate a federal or state law. Companies can even be penalized for NOT verifying SSN data! So not only is it legal, it’s often expected and sometimes required.
The Federal Privacy Act of 1974 also protects individuals’ records retrieved by personal identifiers such as a name, SSN, or other identifying number or symbol. For example, this law requires the consent of the citizen before information found in government records can be made public or even transferred to another agency.
Background checks are not harmful to applicants, no matter how many are conducted. They are soft rather than hard inquiries which do not affect a person’s credit score or any other reputation. Applicants can still, of course, refuse a background check. But then it is within an organization’s rights to deny employment or service to those individuals on that basis. What companies shouldn’t do, however, is use a background check as the sole determiner of a person’s identity or qualifications.
Are Background Checks for Employment a Failsafe?
Background checks for employment are not a failsafe. They should be one of many elements of applicant screening. And even still, passing a properly conducted background investigation is no guarantee that the employee is criminal record free, psychologically sound, or even who he or she claims to be. Nor does it ensure that he or she won’t err in the future.
Varying Results
Background checks can furthermore vary in scope. There is no set standard for non-regulated industries, says background screening expert Nick Fishman. Screeners can make suggestions, but companies in unregulated industries can request whatever checks they want. This can lead to adverse information being missed.
Companies typically check seven years of criminal records. But reporting processes vary by type of crime (felony vs. misdemeanor) and federal, state, local, county, and state rules. And the information available in one court might not be available in a neighboring jurisdiction.
Lapses in Background Checks
Lapses in background checks can also occur. Oversights compromise the accuracy of background check results and essentially their success.
Advanced criminals can circumvent and outsmart the screening process by falsifying or faking documents and information. Corrupt insiders can even contribute to the success of these schemes by copying and providing certain credentials and other data.
Employers might bypass a background check to fulfill staffing needs more quickly. Or they might not want to incur the cost. Or maybe they just don’t wait for the results. Background checks can get held up in a backlog. Screeners can pass or overlook items in favor of expediency especially in high-volume cases. But neglect can have costly consequences for an organization or business.
Complementary Approaches
In short, background checks for employment are not perfect and should not be treated as so. Complementary approaches can include behavioral interviews and assessments, references checks, and work history. These approaches can sometimes provide a more accurate report of a person’s character than a data report can.
Behavioral assessments can provide insights into a candidate’s current values, problem-solving skills, and integrity that a background check might not reveal. And speaking with former employers and reviewing work performance can often provide a more accurate reflection of a candidate’s reliability and fit.
Risks Involved in Relying on Background Checks for Employment Too Much
When companies rely on background checks too much, they risk missing information and opportunities.
First, placing too much emphasis on background checks can result in the exclusion of otherwise qualified candidates with minor or outdated infractions. This can especially be true if these past issues have little relevance to the position. Basing hiring decisions solely on criminal records or background checks can perpetuate cycles of inequality for people trying to rebuild their lives.
Second, overly relying on background checks can provide a false sense of security. It’s important to consider that a clean background check doesn’t guarantee future behavior. It’s possible for someone to pass a check and still engage in misconduct later on.
Finally, while a background check may reveal an issue, it often lacks context like the candidate’s circumstances at the time or the steps they’ve taken toward rehabilitation. Some companies may fail to balance this information with a more holistic view of the candidate.
How to Conduct Background Checks for Employment
Searchbug’s Advanced Background Check with Civil and Criminal Check first provides you with a list of both the current (or last reported) and previous address history as well as phone numbers for your subject. Then, the complete background check reports data from multiple data partners searching billions of records to include public, civil and criminal records with matching social profiles and associated web links.
A comprehensive background check can protect you from misinformation and unnecessary risk. This exhaustive check searches everything: aliases, voter registrations, licenses, neighbors, other occupants at the address, marital records, business records, court records, possible assets, arrests, warrants, vehicles, sex offender records, and even surrounding neighborhood facilities. And more.
If you plan on conducting many background checks regularly, you can integrate a background check API into your systems. Searchbug’s Background Report API allows you to obtain a complete background report with data from public, civil, and criminal records. The report includes names, a list of current and previous addresses and phone numbers, emails, relatives, corporate filings, UCC filings, trademarks, professional associations and licenses, personal lien, judgment and bankruptcy filings, evictions, criminal and watchlist record details, concealed weapon and hunting permits, pilot licenses, and more.
Accounts with restricted access can also see SSN info, driver’s licenses, employers, employment history, business associations, voter registrations and some other restricted information. The background check API is particularly useful for web and mobile developers in dating applications, staffing applications, HR applications, recruiting apps, legal apps, and others.
Conclusion
Relying too much on background checks without considering broader evaluation tools can limit diversity, decrease second chances, and overlook other critical factors like skills, growth potential, and cultural fit. A balanced approach where background checks are one part of a comprehensive evaluation process can mitigate these issues.
While background checks are important, organizations should ensure they are not used in isolation but as one of several tools for making fair and informed hiring decisions. Check out Searchbug’s background and criminal records check solutions today!
