WORLDEXECUTIVESDIGEST | Why should workplaces conduct criminal record checks? | It is widely known amongst HR and other recruitment professionals all over the globe that police checks or criminal record checks work to help in protecting an entity’s assets, staff, performance measures, current and potential clients and its reputation in the marketplace.
By having processes in place for conducting background screening checks like police history checks, an entity is proving to show diligence and care. In a number of articles it is also indicated that such due diligence processes further show that the entity values reputation, the staff, its culture and their clients.
So below we have summarised the main advantages (as per common statistics) of including criminal history checks in the hiring process.
1. Reputation protection of the entity
It takes one person within the entity to permanently tarnish the reputation. Let’s get to some cold hard statistics – in a survey conducted by PwC, it was shown that 32% of respondents cited damage to firm reputation as one of the biggest consequences of modern economic crime. In the modern era with posts that can be shared on the internet or social media in the click of a button, reputation matters!
2. Retain the top talent in the firm
With the intention to foster and nurture a high-performance culture within the firm, companies in the modern era have the need to attract and most importantly retain the correct workers that will take the organisation to the next level in the competitive marketplace.
Including a comprehensive background screening process informs the community and workers within the firm that the organisation has an interest to protect their workers from potential issues. You should also be rest assured that the check being conducted is a national check. E.g. In the modern era, state based checks like a police check Tasmania (for Australia) are in essence the same type of check as a national police check.
3. Safeguarding the company’ internal culture
People are the most important asset! Yes, most workplaces will understand this point.
Worker morale can be described as the driving force behind thriving organisations.
Top talent is not a simple item for most organizations to get a hold of. Further to this, keeping a good culture at work that is appreciated by the staff is even harder to maintain. It is essential that workplaces take care of this and it can only be done with the right people who have a character that is aligned with the workplace goals and internal culture of the firm’s people.
Respondents of the popular 2016 PwC Global Economic Crime Survey notified that the biggest damage to their organisations that they experienced was as a result of economic crime and it directly replaced the damage of worker morale within the organisations.
4. Protection of sensitive information and company assets
The current era can be described as the information technology era. Firms are reliant on I.T. data and storage and the data has become some of the most notable assets for the companies.
Safeguarding the data and assets of a firm is just as important in the modern era; After-all, all of this information is described as the firm’s intellectual property.
5. Cut down on re-hire costs
Firms that have experience in dealing with recruitment agencies know that hiring and training new staff is a time consuming and resource intensive endeavour.
Companies should make sure that they have the correct personnel for the desired role and that the person’s character is also a suitable fit for the role at hand. After all, it is essential from a financial perspective.
Research has proven that costs relating to re-hiring for a new worker or contractor range from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars. In some cases (like professional job roles or roles that are highly technical, it may also be up to up to twice the worker’s or contractor’s yearly wages.
Wrapping Up
Going a little further and taking the effort to include a criminal record check in employment background checking processes shows that organisations can obtain the assurance of safety in the workplace. It is not only the safety of staff and clients, but also the safety of a company’s reputation, its assets and culture.
Go the step and conduct criminal record checks as part of the recruitment or rehire process. Consider it as an insurance policy that may help the firm sometime in the long run.
