more than two million Canadians, has found that the red flag rate drops from 10 to 11 per cent to six per cent for compa- nies that provide criminal record checks. Moreover, in the unlikely event some- does
thing happen,
• Professional reference checks These
involve extensive interviews with past references, as well as cross-references with the resume.
• Education verification
pre-employment
screening demonstrates due diligence on behalf the company in question. “It’s a piece of insurance [companies] can use,” asserts Sutton.
RECESSION IMPACT
Although the recession has meant less hiring overall, the economic downturn has no doubt changed how some people seek employment. “The biggest story has been how often applicants are stretching the truth to try to get a job,” says Dinesen. Also, applicants unable to find employ- ment in heavy industries that often don’t screen, such as manufacturing, oil and gas, have attempted to get jobs in more traditional industries, such as telecommu- nications, health care and retail – most of which conduct background screening on a regular basis. “We’ve seen a sharp rise since the be- ginning of the recession and really it has continued because the job market hasn’t really cracked open yet,” explains Di- nesen. “People are doing desperate things. They’re lying about their employ- ment or education, and we’re catching them at a sharply increasing rate.” While
popular mythology and TV
shows, such as CSI, make it seem like comprehensive information is available with the click of the mouse, in reality, there is no magic database for companies to use to search people’s background. Simply put, successful background
checking requires a strong combination of people, process and technology, with the following checks topping the list:
• Criminal record checks “First and fore- most is a criminal background check,” says Kroll’s Sutton. “You want to check if there’s a history of a violent nature.”
• Employment verification Determining
whether a potential employee held the positions and responsibilities claimed is
done both quantitatively (e.g.,
checking in with payroll and HR of- fices, etc.), as well as with behavioural- based interviews.
WWW.SECURITYMATTERSMAG.COM
• Running a credit history.
While all pre-employment checks are
important, experts caution employers not to latch on to just one form of verification to determine whether or not to hire someone. A criminal check, for example, will catch those whom the law has caught and the police have caught up with and success- fully charged. But there are many people who don’t have criminal records, but will lie about their job to get in the door. Altogether, the entire package of checks provides companies with some in- sight. More importantly, a complete back- ground check provides a company with a file that proves they performed due dili- gence, the person checked out, and they are happy to have them onboard.
THE RULES OF PRE-SCREENING
Employee pre-screening can be done at various stages in the hiring process, but no matter when and where it occurs, the process must be in line with PIPEDA (where applicable), provincial legislation, and not seem discriminating. “The candidate has to be fully aware of what’s going on with the background check. Who is seeing this information, where it’s going and where it’s stored. It has to be very transparent and there are no surprises,” says ISB’s Damm. Applicants are asked to sign fully in-
formed, signed consents and organiza- tions must be careful with results so they only remain in the hands of designated individuals.
Most importantly, employee screening is done to represent both the applicant and the employer. “Our job is to repre- sent the applicant fairly so that the right applicant gets the job for the right rea- sons, and also again represent that ap- plicant fairly so the employer can make a good hiring decision,” explains Dinesen. “Helping an employer make a good deci- sion, but doing so in a fair way so that an applicant isn’t tarnished in any reports that are developed.” Once a person is hired, routine, annual
checks should be done on employees based on risk. If the risk is driving, perform a driver’s abstract. If it’s financial, conduct a financial check. “The check that we do is [only] as good as the day that we do it,” says Sutton, adding if an employee comes on board and is convicted of a crime six months later, the employer may never know. Criminal records are the ones most typically checked, particularly for em- ployees working with the vulnerable, in highly sensitive areas, such as critical in- frastructure and industry, health care, and in very sensitive areas where issues of national security exist. The challenge for any corporation is to then ensure it has policies and procedures in place that determine what to do if something does pop up.
Although still considered in its infancy stage, the rate background checks are performed in Canada have grown from under 25 per cent to close to 50 per cent in the past five years, and is expected to continue to increase.
“A lot of what’s driving Canada is the United States,” says Damm. “Big corpo- rations in the States that have franchises and operations here have now pushed Canada and are saying, ‘Listen, you need to get on board, you need to be doing background screening because there is a libel factor.’” Indeed, costly mistakes by bigger firms are forcing corporations to realize that im- plementing a dependable background screening process can be easily worth it. There’s also a trend towards extended workforce screening. “Many companies have great employee screening, but they don’t know about the copier guy,” says Di- nesen. “They have no idea if these other people who are coming in are equally cleared.”
Mara Gulens is a freelance writer in T
oronto, Ont.
SOURCES
BackCheck •
www.backcheck.ca ISB Canada •
www.isbc.ca Kroll Canada •
www.kroll.ca
MAY/JUNE 2010 • SECURITY MATTERS 25
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