Today, conducting background verification has become critical for businesses for while candidates irrespective of the industry and job role. Before, only the teams and people involved in the hiring process, such as the HR managers, evaluated a few details to assess the kind of candidate they are onboarding. However, this form of screening is not adequate to conduct an exhaustive test.
Employee background verification involves tackling multiple facets of screening, including checking the employment history, financial records, credit score, commercial records, and more. Typically, these facets are the ones that can impact the candidates’ performance, cause reputational damage to the company, harm employees, etc. Since companies find it challenging to take care of these areas of screening, they primarily partner with top-notch background verification companies in India to conduct exhaustive verification checks.
So, let’s understand how it is essential for every enterprise to carry out verification checks for various categories of employees.
Why is Background Verification Essential?
The background check process is the final step that an employer undertakes during the hiring process. These checks are essential irrespective of the job type or industry. However, these checks become more rigorous for executives, professionals making investments, etc.
For instance, companies planning to hire C-suite level candidates conduct executive background screening. Therefore, businesses can carry out these tests as per their objectives and requirements. Nevertheless, background screening is critical, and here is why:
Safety at Workplace
Every employer must ensure the safety of each employee and facilitate the proper code of conduct in the organisation. Often, cases of violence, harassment, and conflicts are a result of negligent hiring. However, background verification can highlight instances of violence or harassment, ensuring safety at the workplace.
Job Competence:
The interview process can highlight a majority of inaccuracies in the claims made by a candidate regarding their competence or job proficiency. But, even if these candidates possess the knowledge, it can become challenging if falsified details see the light of day in the future. For instance, a few candidates may overstate their educational qualifications to enhance their chances of selection. Background verification eliminates such inaccuracies through education records check, professional experience checks, and more.
Minimising Reputational Risk:
The reputation and goodwill of the company is the primary concern for the employers. Background checks help employers minimise the risk of reputational loss by creating a safe work environment. Moreover, the organisation’s overall productivity is enhanced as the right employee gets selected.
What are the Key Background Checks for Employees?
There are various kinds of checks that employers perform for different candidates. These can include drug screening, address checks, employment verification, and international background checks, depending on the requirements. This helps organisations confirm that the prospective employee will ensure workplace security, maintain integrity, and possess a clean employment history record. Such background verification methods are listed below.
Employment Verification:
This is one of the most important background checks performed to assess the candidates’ work experience. It gives employers a view about factors such as job stability and gaps in employment. Also, a prior employment check confirms the employment commencement and end dates, salary structure, job duties, and the different titles held.
Drug Screening:
There are few industries such as driving or aviation for which drug testing is imperative at regular intervals. The objective of these tests is to determine the level of alcohol or illegal drugs within the person’s system. It gives employers confirmation about the candidate’s abilities to perform duties and ensures a healthy state of mind. It is done through hair testing, urinalysis, and breathalyser. However, prior notice is mandatory before performing such tests.
Education Check:
This is primarily used to validate the documentary evidence presented by the employee regarding the academic qualifications.
Reference Check:
A common practice that almost all employers perform during the hiring process is to check for references.
Conclusion
Background verification is crucial in determining the overall productivity of the enterprise. Today, organisations can partner with reputed background verification companies to verify different categories of employees using new-age AI-enabled technologies. For instance, identification checks can be performed using facial and image recognition tools to ensure accurate results. Moreover, these background checks have quick turnaround times and help in significantly reducing onboarding time and operational expenditure and minimising manual intervention.
