Background Checks and Hiring in the Time of Covid 19
Although many businesses are furloughing employees, there are some essential businesses that continue to hire employees. Some examples: delivery people, security, retail food service and tech support. It is important to include background checks as part of your due diligence and best practices.
Are you hiring during these difficult times? Tempted to take shortcuts and forego background checks? Especially for temporary workers hired to help during Covid 19? Now, more than ever, it is important to keep best practices in place. Your customers may be more distracted or vulnerable right now and the last thing you want to do is expose them or their personal information to any risk.
In addition to a lot of workers displaced during this pandemic, there have also been early prison releases. What this means for you is there is a big pool of people out there looking for work and it is a daunting task to get through all the applicants. Are you willing to consider someone that was previously incarcerated? How do you lower your risk and make informed decisions? Finding the right candidate will be harder than usual and you definitely should not skimp on the background checks!
Which background checks do you need?
A lot depends on the scope of the job you have open.
- Will they have access to financial resources?
- Will they have access to client information?
- Are they working with vulnerable people such as seniors, children or the disabled?
- Do they need to be key-holders?
- Are they supervised or working independently?
- Will they be driving company vehicles?
- Will they be performing any home visits or deliveries?
These questions are just a few things to consider when making decisions about which background checks are the best hiring practices for your company. In 2020, more and more companies are expanding the background checks they require due to extra precaution during Covid 19. For example, temporary workers and freelancers used to kind of glide under the radar, but now it is becoming common to require background checks for them as well.
What about existing employees?
There are still some easy ways to continue background checks to monitor existing employees too and these methods are not expensive or time consuming. Partnering with a CRA (Consumer Reporting Agency) with the services you need to fill in your HR gaps can be an economical solution that also helps you stay in compliance. The right CRA partner can help you recruit, integrate your system, perform background checks, provide education and license verification, drug testing at convenient locations, and support throughout the process.
Feel confident that you are bringing the best hire into your company by having done due diligence both legally and ethically for your employees and customers. A professional CRA partner pays for itself by avoiding costly hiring mistakes. For a free consultation or more information, contact Genesis Background Screening Services at 866 944-0041 ext 101. Online, email or visit www.genesisbackgroundscreening.com. You can sign up to be emailed whenever we post a new blog at https://genesisbackgroundscreening.com/subscribe-to-the-blog/
Genesis Background Screening is not a law firm and provides our blogs for informational purposes only. Blog is not a substitute for experienced legal advice. Research laws or regulations mentioned in our blogs and ask your legal counsel any questions you have to be sure your organization is within the law and compliant with regulations.
Jacqueline McClure
Genesis Background Screening Services
