 |
 |
|
| Any comprehensive security plan must include a complete
and exhaustive background investigation of employees.
Research has shown that workplace violence and employee
theft is a serious problem to American corporations. One
of the most effective means to abate this problem is to
conduct background investigations on all new employees.
Lancaster provides this service and will develop a
comprehensive plan for our clients to implement a background
investigation policy. We provide a systematic approach
to these investigations that include the following:
- Criminal history that includes state and county
checks for the past seven years.
- Motor vehicle checks including driver’s license
history.
- Credit history.
- Reference and credential checks.
- Social security checks.
Background investigations can be customized to the
individual needs and legal requirements of our clients.
All background checks comply with the “Fair Credit Reporting Act”.
The misconception of background checks and who’s really working for you
There is a huge security flaw in the process of vetting potential employees that will come into your workplace. Let’s start with the fact that over ninety percent of company’s losses come from their own employees. The logical solution to that problem would be to put standards into place that would prevent potential high-risk employees from being hired. Then add into the fact that over seventy percent of potential employees lie or do not answer their employee applications accurately.
The problem that all security professionals face is that there are no Federal Guidelines on this issue and basically it is being regulated by each state separately. Out of our fifty states, only forty-three require a private investigator license to perform a background check while the other seven are completely unregulated.
Then recent studies have shown that 90% of companies doing background checks in those 43 states “do not” possess a private investigators license adding further problems to this issue. The only way companies get caught is if there is a formal complaint made to that state’s governing agency (in New Jersey it is the State Police Private Detective Unit). These units are normally woefully understaffed and they do not randomly audit, but usually only react to written complaints to their office.
Now to further add to this problem, payroll companies, temp agencies, and other companies are offering their clients discounted background check rates without possessing a license or having any professional investigators on their staff. An organization called the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS) is the leading association in the U.S. on this subject. They have professional lobbyists who have been trying to convince Congress to set up a national standard for this vital security industry for years. On their own, they have written best practices that set standards for the different components of a background check. This means that they have a separate standard for criminal history’s, motor vehicle reports, credit reports, social security verifications, etc. A perfect example is a current New Jersey resident who has lived in other states. Most companies are using agencies that will only check New Jersey, but this applicant could have major issues in the previous states that they lived in. Anyone interested can log on to NAPBS.COM to learn more about that organization. All the data used in this report was taken from ASIS International, the leading security organization in the world. |
| |
|
