Background Checks: Trick or Treat? 👻

Client: Ugh, it seems like everybody I hire just disappears when it’s time to actually get to work.

Ann: (attempting humor) Well, it is almost Halloween, maybe they’re getting really method about their ghost costume.

Client: Hmm… stick to your day job, which by the way, I’m not even sure background checks are worth doing if my new hires don’t even bother showing up.

Ann: Ohhhh yes they are!

Client: Alright, you may not be a comedian, but you are the best damn P.I. I know. Tell me what you’ve got.

Ann *sipping her fourth cup of coffee*: Ok so here’s the deal…

Is the labor shortage of 2021 driving employers toward that dark, dangerous hallway of negligent hiring?

An HR Director told me last week:

• I hire 10 people

• 8 of them show up for training

• 6 of them show up for the first day of work

• 2 of them quit halfway through their shift

• 2 of them don’t come back the next day

• I’m left with 2 employees.

If we do background checks on the ten, will that leave her with fewer applicants?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: It will leave her with better qualified applicants.

The “warm body” theory of hiring has never been a good idea. Just ask the family of Sue Weaver.

Sue had contracted with a company to have the air ducts in her home cleaned. The two men sent to her home both had criminal records that posed threats to her safety, however, no background check had been done on either of the workers. Six months later, one of the workers, a twice convicted sex offender on parole, returned to Sue’s home where he raped and murdered her. He then set fire to her home with hopes of destroying the evidence.

Apparently the company never ran a background check on these workers because it was more important to them to have a “warm body” to get the work done.

For more information on the case check out www.Sueweavercause.org.

Not performing pre-employment background checks—no matter what the employment climate—is a dangerous idea. It inevitably leads to lower morale, more walk offs, and eventually lawsuits that will cause tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend and settle.

I was recently approached about pre-employment background checks by a company in the middle of a lawsuit because one employee was beaten up by a new co-worker, who they never would have hired had they run a background check in the first place.

Don’t want your hiring practices to become a Halloween tale of horror?

Call or email us today for comprehensive, professional, fast and accurate background checks:

(760) 423-6408 or Ann@CEBackgroundChecks.com