How Background Checks Improve Company Culture

When hiring new employees, there is a lot to consider. Do they have the proper experience and are they willing to learn? What sets them apart from all of your other candidates? Will they fit or alter your company’s culture? 

Beyond selecting the perfect fit, it’s imperative to know that your potential new hires do not pose any danger to your current staff, profits, or general operations. Utilizing comprehensive employment screening services not only ensures you’re making the right choice based on hard data but it can also set the stage for your company culture.

Background Check Basics 

Background checks allow you to better understand your job candidate in areas that may not come up or be allowed to ask in an interview. Our reporting reveals criminal records, drug use, sex offender and child abuse registrants, driver’s license status, credit history, and a global homeland security watch list search. Background checks also allow you to see into a candidate’s employment history while verifying their education and references. 

Beyond the Basics 

Whether you are running a Gen-Z company with lots of freedom or you have a more traditional business model, implementing background checks can help you maintain the culture you’ve spent valuable time creating. But did you know that we go above and beyond the standard drug and criminal testing? We can help you get answers to questions such as: 

• Will they work well in a team or individually? 
• Does their driving and/or criminal record show instability? 
• Do they believe in honesty and integrity in the workplace? 

You’ll also want to determine ahead of time how closely you want your candidates to align with your values because we can determine that for you as well, along with how productive and driven they are. 

Because we are able to pull a lot of useful information from their professional references by asking the right questions, we are able to dig further into their history. This equips you to be highly informed before investing time and resources into your new hires.

PRO TIP: Job candidates aren’t the only people recommended for background checks. We can also check current employees, volunteers, vendors, and subcontractors to ensure a positive work environment. 

Hiring Statistics

With the amount of time and money spent on recruiting, hiring, onboarding/training, compensation, health insurance, holidays, vacation time, severance packages, and unemployment insurance, the bill for a failed new hire without a background check can add up quickly. Instead, background checks allow you to have an informed idea of the people you are hiring at the beginning of the process to help reduce failed new hires. 

There are statistics that report failed new hire costs anywhere from 30% of an employee’s first-year wages and up to 24 times their annual salary! There are several reasons for the more significant number, such as a damaged reputation, lost clients and business opportunities, potential fraud/theft, and legal fees.

Below are more alarming statistics for hiring employees without first doing background checks and drug screenings.

• College registrars reject up to 60% of the information listed on resumes
• Honesty is a rare virtue; nearly 80% of job applicants lie on their resumes
• Employee fraud will cost you; employee theft is 5.4 times more likely than outside jobs 

PRO TIP: Letting candidates know that they’ll be screened can save you money and time by weeding out those who have something to hide. You’ll notice whether they are dragging their feet on taking the drug test, pushing back on signing forms, etc. This can not only indicate red flags with their background check results but also tells you what kind of employee they might be (do they procrastinate and are they combative or do they go with the flow?).

It’s pretty easy to see, given all of the above, how background checks can improve the company culture you’ve worked so hard to curate. Avoid “problem children” who can bring morale down in a hurry (and are an HR nightmare) and let us know when you are ready to get started with our background check and drug screening services! We might even already be able to integrate your applicant tracking system with partners like UKG.  Contact us today for help protecting your company culture with Per Mar Security Background Check Screenings.