The long and short of it is that pre-employment screening is essential to every industry. There are common risks that span recruitment across all businesses, and shared benefits that can be seized by any business that conducts proper screening.
Not convinced? Here are our top 5 reasons pre-employment screening is essential in every industry.
1) Keep your employees and customers safe
As an employer, you are liable for the safeguarding of your workforce and customers. In 2019/20, the Health and Safety Executive reported 688,000 incidents of violence at work, with 47% of those assaults leading to severe bruising. It is vital that someone does not enter the workforce who would intend to cause harm to others, and this is where criminality checks come in. At Reed we conduct over 60,000 basic, standard and enhanced criminal record checks which reveal any criminal history, with a 0% application error rate. By taking the precaution of screening, you create a barrier to individuals who may seek to cause harm to others, and fulfil your duty as an employer to do everything you can to keep everyone safe when welcoming a new member of the team.
2) Compliance
Compliance is crucial in all businesses. To work within the UK, your candidate must hold the correct right to work status, and it is your legal duty to prevent illegal working in the UK by carrying out the correct background checks. Failure to ensure do so could land you in hot water and lead to your business being prosecuted under the civil penalty scheme. Furthermore, depending on your industry there may be further compliance or qualifications required from your workers, such as a chartered accountant who typically is required to hold, at minimum, an AAT qualification. There are also specific background screening required for certain roles. For example, a DBS check is required for individuals working with, or who may come into contact with children under the age of 18, such as workers in the education industry. It is important that all compliance is properly investigated through a background check on the candidate.
3) Keep untrustworthy individuals out.
You need to be able to trust your workforce, but unfortunately not everyone is trustworthy. Regardless of your industry it is in your best interests as an employer to steer clear of these individuals, with the consequences of a poor hire manifesting in all sorts of ways. Individuals can take advantage of their position within a business, committing fraud, theft, instigating a data leak and more. If your candidate has lied on their CV, it is unlikely they will make a trustworthy hire, and screening provides a net to stop fraudsters putting your business at risk.
Unfortunately, screening will not stop every untrustworthy individual, with a recent case from Santander reminding us that even large companies are open to risk. The BBC reports that a member of the bank’s anti-fraud team sold customer details to conmen, with the scam leading to a loss of £90,000 for Santander and a 2-year jail sentence for the culprit. However, with our pre-employment screening process finding a discrepancy in the information provided by 6/10 candidates we screen, it provides a strong barrier against potential fraudsters.
4) Secure your investment
Between dedicated time and resources, the recruitment process has the potential to cost you thousands. This large investment makes it all the more important to ensure you are welcoming the right candidate first time round. Should your new starter lack their claimed qualifications or experience, that investment would be wasted and would have to begin again, bringing with it another large bill. Here at Reed, we verify each and every higher-level qualification, and meticulously conduct comprehensive employment history checks, making sure your new starter has the skills they claim.
5) Better hires
Stating on your job description that you will be undertaking screening checks also helps to attract only the best candidates by deterring those who could potentially waste your time and cost you money. This is due to the knowledge that they would be discovered to have fraudulent claims on their CV, and saves your recruitment team time in screening their applications. That means that it could speed up the recruitment process too!
How we can help
We’ve been learning the ins and outs of pre-employment screening for over 9 years now, and are proud to provide the fastest screening service in the UK. Offering easy pay-per-candidate screening along with tailored screening packages, we are ready to help protect your business no matter your size or industry.
To get you started, we've compiled a brilliant guide to recommended background checks we know will help keep your business safe. To find out more about what screening is recommended in your industry, check out our Industry Hub.