What’s being uncovered in background checks today
January 6, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: Background checks, In This Week's E-Newsletter, Latest News & Views
Background checks can be a hassle for HR, but a recent report shows why they’re still important.
Here’s what background checks have uncovered about candidates in the past year, according to a report by ADP Employer Services:
- Out of all background checks performed, 10% revealed some negative factor
- 44% of credit checks found at least one bad mark on a candidate’s credit (many companies perform credit checks for jobs that involve finance)
- More than 33% of applicants had violations on their driving records
- 8% of candidates had a prior workers’ compensation claim, and
- 6% of all applicants had a criminal conviction in the past seven years.
Given how often those record checks turn up negative information (and how quickly many candidates will supply false info on an application), screening applicants in appropriate categories could be a wise investment.
Tags: ADP, background check, credit checks, criminal records
January 9th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
I am having difficulty accepting your statistics or conclusion based on these statistics that applicant screenings are a wise investment.
First, you indicate that only 10% of all background checks reveal negative information. You then provide statistics based on background checks for applcant screenings. So I am to believe that Most background checks are performed for reasons other than applicant screening (that is if I am to accept the 44% number stated next).
Second, the statistics indicate that they are based on all candidates or applicants. I don’t know your sample size, but that would lead me to believe that these numbers are representative of the pool of potential workers in our society seeking employment, and therefore pretty representative of our society.
With that infernece, then 44% (nearly half of our society) has had a bad mark on their credit due to late or missed payments. This statistic doesn really inform me as to the applicability of a person to work for me.
Neither does the statistic thatnearly 1/3 of the applicants have had motor vehicle violations (like failure to stop, speeding, improper change of lanes, etc.)
Nearly 8% of our population has been hurt on the job in the past. Doesn’t say so much about the applicant but the overall safety of employment in oour society. I wonder how many did NOT file claims? How safe are we on the job, anyway?
Finally, 6% had a criminal conviction in the past seven years. Again, doesn’t say anything about their applicability to work. Maybe if they were all felony robbery or assault or murder, but actually this would include failure to maintain a pet on a leash, disorderly conduct during the New Years party, protesting without a permit (for not being in the properly designated protest areas during the conventions), and having a peace bond (a big one for anyone going through a divorce and fighting for custody).
So what do your numbers really mean? We live in an imperfect society with imperfect people. We work with the people we got. The reality is that most of our embezzlers and sources of workplace violence, do NOT have criminal records before they got caught. So screening out people who made mistakes doesn’t really make you any safer or more secure. However, many screening companies do depend on your continued support to feed their families and send their kids through college, so we will keep doing them.