For most job applications, the background check is the last hurdle for candidates to hop over. It exists to protect employers from a number of potential dangers, and shouldn’t prove to be an issue if candidates have been honest in the rest of their application.
In this article, we go into a little more detail on which dangers background checks are designed to mitigate, to give you a more thorough understanding as to why they’re necessary.
1. Protecting the Workforce
Background checks don’t just exist to protect businesses – they’re also designed to help protect the other workers. It’s important that the workplace is a comfortable and safe space, and background checks help to ensure that no one has lied about a background that could potentially endanger their fellow coworkers.
Background checks will flag up criminal records, any form of recorded extremism, among other things, helping to maintain a safe workforce and build a culture of trust.
Hiring an efficient and DBS (disclosure and barring service) check company like Personnel Checks is the most effective way of ensuring that all candidate checks are carried out in an appropriate manner.
2. Protection Against Fraud
It’s an unfortunate truth that a lot of people don’t tell the whole truth in their CV when applying for a job. Many positions simply aren’t safe if carried out by an unqualified individual, making it incredibly important that businesses can trust the information in a job application and CV.
Background and pre-employment checks can help businesses to trust an individual and their claimed experience, helping them to ensure that each of their workers is properly qualified and has the necessary experience.
3. Compliance with the Law
Businesses can face massive fines if they don’t comply with certain employment laws, fines which could be devastating for a lot of smaller companies.
That means that carrying out their due diligence on a candidates’ right to work is an essential step in ensuring legal compliance. Some simple things that need to be checked include how long a worker has the right to work in the UK, and what kind of work they’re allowed to do.
4. Protecting Clients
In order for any business to thrive, they need to have the trust of their clients. Ensuring that the workforce is made up of trustworthy individuals is an integral part of that.
It only takes one incident, such as a data breach or other improper use of client information, for the reputation of a business to take a massive hit.
Rebuilding that reputation could take years, and massively affect relationships with other clients. Background checks help to ensure that everyone on the team is who they say they are and help keep out anyone who lies about a history of potentially dangerous workplace practices.