It is challenging enough to mine out diamond employees, let alone onboard, engage and retain them. But even when hiring managers achieve this, how can they be sure the new hires are really who they say they are? The cost of a bad hire can be enormous and recent findings show that the majority of companies are exposing themselves to serious risks in failing to conduct adequate screening of new hires and existing employees.
Now, more than ever, there seems to be quite a lot of rough amongst the diamonds when it comes to hiring. The 2016 HireRight APAC Employment Screening Benchmark Report highlights the scale of this problem—with 59% of organisations surveyed uncovering ‘discrepancies’ in candidate backgrounds following background screening. Discrepancies most commonly discovered include applicants inflating salaries and job titles, falsifying educational qualifications and making up reasons for resignations. Some of the companies surveyed only carried out background screening for senior employees—allowing a loophole for entry-level employees to work their way up the career ladder and move into leadership positions without ever being background checked.
Under the rescreening radar
Despite the huge number of employees that have discrepancies show up in their background during the screening process, a mere 20% of APAC companies actually commit to rescreening their employees. The situation is even worse in the USA and Canada—where 86% and 82% of employers, respectively do not rescreen employees who are about to be promoted or change roles.
Camilla de Villiers, Managing Director of APAC, HireRight, commented, “Just because someone did not raise any red flags when they were first hired, does not imply that their situation has remained the same in the interim. Knowing if candidates have criminal or financial issues can help to ensure that the right action is taken expediently—whether that is help and support or taking more stringent precautionary measures.
Source: 2016 HireRight APAC Employment Screening Benchmark Report
International background checks
The international talent pool is as rich and diverse as ever—with many firms just as keen to source employees internationally as they are locally. The Report suggests that APAC employers may be occasionally more lax when it comes to screening international candidates. While 74% of companies screen domestic employees, only 42% screen international ones. The Report indicates that differing legal and cultural backgrounds coupled with language barriers makes the screening overseas candidates more complex, which may account for the lower levels of screening applied to international candidates.
de Villiers added, “Background checks on candidates might be the norm for most organisations, but as employers continue to gain increased access to talent pools across the world, potential threats grow too—making companies much more susceptible to hiring risks and vulnerabilities. These threats appear both in terms of the authenticity of candidates and the potential threat they pose to a company’s employees, customers, intellectual property and reputation.”
HireRight is currently conducting its 2017 APAC Employment Screening Benchmark Survey. Lend your voice and help shape the changing profile of Human Resources. To participate, click here.
As a thank you, participants will receive an advanced copy of HireRight’s 2017 APAC Employment Screening Benchmark Report when it is launched early next year. Take part now!
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
