Employee Screening During COVID-19: Doesn’t Have to be Complicated

Employee Screening During COVID-19 Made Simple

Employee Screening During COVID-19. Unsurprisingly, the virus has had a massive impact on businesses, and the recruitment industry is certainly not immune to that. Companies adapted quickly to survive, and the legacy of COVID-19 may forever change the nature of recruitment and the workplace landscape. CRI Group’s survey revealed that 77 per cent of HR professionals accept that there is a risk that employees can initiate fraudulent activity because of the work-from-home arrangement. The rise in recruitment fraud is creating several challenges – last year, it cost £23 Billion just in the UK. The COVID-19 is set to cost even more. And what is particularly worrying for any HR professional is that fraud in recruitment regularly sees genuine businesses used to add legitimacy to illegal behaviour. 

Background checks and necessary screenings are vital to avoid horror stories and taboo tales that occur within HR, your business or even your brand – simply investing insufficient screening can save you time, money and heartbreak. COVID-19 is adding even more complexity and new challenges to your job:

1. Money mule scammers specialise in hacking employer accounts at job recruitment Websites like Monster.com and other popular employment search services. Armed with the employer accounts, the crooks are free to search through millions of resumes and reach out to people who are in fragile situations due to COVID-19.
2. According to jobs site Glassdoor, the virus has sparked new demand for professions related to infectious diseases, which has recorded a more than doubling of job postings with keywords related to coronavirus this month, particularly within the government, healthcare, and biotech and pharmaceuticals.

The recruiters that weather the COVID-19 storm will be those that adapt as the situation unfolds. Outsourcing your background screening is smart and effective. CRI™ Employee Background Checks can reduce the risk of hiring someone who could cause irrevocable damage. Firms spend years, thousands, even millions to brand their products and services and one bad hire can cause loss of capital and reputation to the extent that may bring a business to fail. A robust pre-employment check can help you and your company:

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BS 7858:2019 Standard: A new way to mitigate employee risk during COVID-19

BS 7858:2019 Standard is the revised standard for screening individuals working in secure environments. The far-reaching impact of the COVID-19 outbreak has affected virtually every business and economic sector worldwide. Depending on the global region, the far-reaching implications have hampered (on various levels) the ability to conduct proper and thorough background screening investigations.

In the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, the countrywide lockdowns forced leaders to close sites and send their workforce home. Many must learn how to manage people working from home (WFH) or remotely for the first time. The previous concerns about productivity, privacy and protecting sensitive information only grew more with the practice of WFH.

They highlighted the vital importance of pre-employment background screening and background investigations. BS 7858:2019 Standard for screening individuals working in secure environments offers a complete solution.

Unfortunately, conducting such investigations in a reliable and timely manner has brought its struggles. The closure of public information sources has dramatically impacted accessing public records to verify previous employment, education and criminal charges.

Drug screening tests have been delayed or postponed until such companies are permitted to reopen their doors for business. On the applicant side, it’s been widely reported that individuals are concerned (and rightly so) about participating in face-to-face interviews. Applicants are concerned with leaving their homes to do a drug test and returning to a work environment that may or may not appear healthy, protected and safe.

Want to know the most crucial factors in the hiring process? 

Download our “Top 10 things every organisation should know about background checks” infographic. Get answers to frequently asked questions about background checks or screening cost, guidelines, check references etc. This eBook of compiled list of background screening related questions taken is the perfect primer for any HR professional, business leader and company looking to avoid employee background screening risks. It provides the tools and knowledge needed to make the right decisions. 

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Learn more about how EmploySmart™ can help your company stay protected during these strange and uncertain times. Contact CRI Group™ today.

Who is CRI Group™?

Based in London, CRI Group™ works with companies across the Americas, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific as a one-stop international Risk Management, Employee Background Screening, 

We have the largest proprietary network of background screening analysts and investigators across the Middle East and Asia. Our global presence ensures that no matter how international your operations are, we have the network needed to provide you with all you need, wherever you happen to be. CRI Group™ also holds BS 102000:2013 and BS 7858:2012 Certifications, is an HRO certified provider and partner with Oracle.

In 2016, CRI Group™ launched the Anti-Bribery Anti-Corruption (ABAC™) Center of Excellence – an independent certification body that provides education and certification services for individuals and organisations on a wide range of disciplines and ISO standards, including ISO 31000:2018 Risk Management- Guidelines, ISO 37000:2021 Governance of Organisations, ISO 37002:2021 Whistleblowing Management System, ISO 37301:2021 (formerly ISO 19600) Compliance Management system, Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and ISO 37001:2016 Anti-Bribery Management Systems.

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UAE Rule: ‘Good Conduct & Behavior’

UAE Good Conduct & Behaviour: CRI Group™ urges all UAE organisations to implement thorough background screening under the UAE Good Conduct & Behaviour rule

Those applying for UAE employment visas need to obtain the UAE “Good Conduct & Behaviour Certificate” to create a more secure and peaceful community. The certificate is a mandatory requirement. Expatriates will need to procure a certificate of good conduct and behaviour from their respective home country or a country where they have legally resided in the last five years. The certificate will need to be authenticated by the UAE diplomatic mission or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs overseas. This rule is deemed to apply to all UAE jurisdictions but excludes dependants accompanying primary applicants as well as tourists.

The implementation of this rule on 4 February 2018 came to light of the UAE authorities endeavouring to achieve high levels of security for UAE residents and ensuring that security screening measures are met with authenticated evidence in the form of a legalised good certificate of conduct.

In the short term, business leaders should be wary of a potential uptick in employment fraud, according to experts from Corporate Research and Investigations LLC “CRI Group™,” a leading global provider of background screening and due diligence services.

According to CRI Group™, the high volume of foreign applicants applying for jobs in the UAE could mean a rush to secure the certificates, with the possibility of a few individuals using fraudulent credentials to meet applicable standards. There’s also a risk of applicants presenting fraudulent good conduct certificates to obtain employment visas quickly.

“This is an important new rule that will help the UAE ensure an even more secure workforce,” said Zafar Anjum, CRI Group’s CEO. “However, this is also a critical time for all organisations to conduct thorough pre-employment background checks. CRI Group™ provides this service at an expert level, and we can also verify the validity of Good Conduct Certificates. With our operational capabilities in 80 countries, we have the knowledge and resources to determine if the certificates are genuine and not fake or forged.”

CRI Group™ has a specialised dedicated service called EmploySmart™ as additional verification support to organisations in public and private sectors to authenticate Good Conduct Certificates and verify the validity of attested documents such as diplomas and transcripts, certificates, and education, character references, certificates/letters.

Anjum encourages organisations to move quickly “time is of the essence.” Please get in touch with us at cridxb@crigroup.com for more information.

CRI Group™ Employee Background Checks

Employee background checks, also known as EmploySmart™, is a robust new pre-employment background screening service certified for BS7858 to avoid negligent hiring liabilities. Ensure a safe work environment for all – EmploySmart™ can be tailored into specific screening packages to meet the requirements of each position within your company. We are a leading worldwide provider, specialising in local and international employee background checks, including pre-employment and post-employment background checks.

CRI™ Employee Background Checks are an investigation into a person’s character – inside and outside their professional lives. Some checks you already carry out in-house, such as candidate’s qualifications (documents provided), work history (with a reference check), right to work in the country and even a quick social media presence scan.

However, we provide a full in-depth background screening service for candidates and employees at all levels – from senior executives through to shop-floor employees:

• Address Verification (Physical Verification)
• Identity Verification
• Previous Employment Verification
• Education & Credential Verification
• Local Language Media Check
• Credit Verification & Financial History (where publicly available)
•  Compliance & Regulatory Check
• Civil Litigation Record Check
• Bankruptcy Record Check
• International Criminal Record Check
• Integrity Due Diligence
• and more.

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You’re vulnerable to risk when you bring a new employee into your business to fill a vital role. CRI™ is trusted by the world’s largest corporations and consultancies – outsource your employee due diligence to an experienced provider, and you will only ever have to look forward, never back. Working with CRI Group™, you get:

• Expertise in domestic and international screening, one of the largest, most experienced and best-trained integrity due to diligence teams globally.
• The ability to manage multiple background checks online
• Quick turnaround times
• High-quality searches, backed by numerous checks and quality controls
• We have a flat structure which means that you will have direct access to senior staff members throughout the due diligence process.
• Our multi-lingual teams have conducted assignments on thousands of subjects in over 80 countries, and we’re committed to maintaining and constantly evolving our global network.
• Our solutions are easily customisable, flexible and we will tailor our scope to address your concerns and risk areas, saving you time and money.
• Our team of more than 50 full-time analysts is spread across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, North and South America and fully equipped with the local knowledge to serve your needs globally.
• Our comprehensive solutions include due diligence, employee pre and post background screening, business intelligence and compliance, facilitating any decision-making across your business no matter what area or department.

Who is CRI Group™?

Based in London, CRI Group™ works with companies across the Americas, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific as a one-stop international Risk Management, Employee Background Screening, 

In 2016, CRI Group™ launched the Anti-Bribery Anti-Corruption (ABAC™) Center of Excellence – an independent certification body established for ISO 37001:2016 Anti-Bribery Management Systems, ISO 37301 Compliance Management Systems and ISO 31000:2018 Risk Management, providing training and certification. ABAC™ operates through its global network of certified ethics and compliance professionals, qualified auditors and other certified professionals. As a result, CRI Group’s international team of certified fraud examiners work as a discreet white-labelled supplier to some of the world’s largest organisations. Contact ABAC™ for more on ISO Certification and training.

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The Consequences of Neglecting Background Screening

Neglecting Background Screening

Are you neglecting background screening? What consequences may affect your organisation when you ignore this process when hiring? What is it about Background Screening? Statistics have revealed to us that a substantial quantity of resumes that are presented to HR during the recruitment process comprised fabricated material; shortlisting is a rigorous assortment procedure intended to put your applicant on trial, but if you are interviewing an individual who has fabricated much of their resume, how can you make a good judge of character? Put, executing a pre-employment check is the best way to combat this issue.

Background screening is vital to organisations of all types and industries as it can assist in authenticating your employees’ record of accomplishment and help avoid a bad hire. Before COVID-19, it was found that an estimate of 85% of organisations testified to conducting background screening of some type. On the same note, a vast 92 per cent stated that they trust their employees with confidential data but without the assistance of a background screening measure. Find out other ways COVID has impacted the hiring process, or download our background screening brochure.

Below, CRI Group™ has compiled a list of 5 risks you are running into when failing to conduct a background screening check before employment.

1. Your prospective member of staff could be a felon

Hiring a candidate with a criminal record could taint your company’s reputation, generate a highly volatile atmosphere in your office, and harm other staff members. An employer has the right to investigate an applicants’ criminal past; however, the only way to genuinely acquire the data surrounding an applicant’s criminal past when they intend on masking the evidence is through a criminal background check. 

A professional background verification service is a must to communicate with the local authorities to acquire legitimate illegal data and make a well-informed decision for the benefit of your organisation.

2. The odds of employing an unqualified candidate devoid of background screening is 1 out of 6

1 out of every 6 candidates carry inflated or falsified documents to persuade you into offering them the position – and this can be accredited to the rise of credential mills and fake corporations; applicants commonly use counterfeit degrees and false employment records to get hired, and it takes more than just a phone call to find out the reality. 

Background service providers use various procedures to obtain legitimate data, including private trips to the university/corporations where applicants allege to have graduated from or worked. Applicants with falsified resumes are not simply deficient in both integrity and honesty – in most cases, they are also not competent enough to fit your job description. A straightforward background verification uncovers this deception and prevents you from hiring an unqualified candidate.

3. Endangering the welfare of other members of the task force

In correspondence to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA),9 % of approximately 22.4 million unlawful drug users are employed either full time or part-time. A substance abuser, aside from grappling with efficiency, will also inhibit the performance of their co-worker with their improper demeanour. 

Employees with a record of drug abuse and misconduct are also deemed to be exceedingly inconsistent and present themselves as a danger to their co-workers; workplace violence and delinquency can be attributed to disregarding employee drug tests and criminal checks – checks that avert such calamities making your office peaceful and an improved place to work.

4. Increased abrasion can also be attributed to improper background screening

Pre-employment screening underlines the notion of quality over quantity. It makes sure that you hire the right candidate from a mass of applicants who applied for the position as employees with unsatisfactory credentials habitually find their way into your organisation through fabricated evidence. Hiring model candidates with an admirable mindset and relevant qualifications can mitigate employee turnover and enhance the general outcome of your organisation. However, the good news is that they never last for long, owing to their shortage of output and failure to handle the work delegated to them.

5. A candidate’s social media presence and global database can help nail down an accurate judge of character

Social media platforms in conjunction with international databases, for instance, criminal watch lists, credit archives, and public litigation archives, can expose your candidates’ positive and negative characteristics that may escape you during the interview and selection process. Abandoning these checks will hinder you as an employer from seeing your candidate’s best or worst side when picking among leading applicants who contend for a critical position. Employers who operate social media checks on their candidates have found it simpler to identify their candidates better, as social media is where the candidates are more apt to demonstrate their temperament and talents. The process for operating social media and archive checks can be burdensome, but rest assured that pre-employment screening providers are devoted to passing thorough checks on social media platforms and hundreds of databases to assist employers worldwide make critical hiring judgments.

The Verdict?

Background screening has achieved immense recognition throughout the world over the previous few years as it should do – its impact and the modern setting assist in diminishing the pressures that jeopardise every employer’s aim to enhance their personnel and work environment. Verification should be a compulsory component of an organisation’s onboarding procedure to alleviate all the risks we have discussed thus far. Notwithstanding the apparent advantages that background screening presents, it likewise confirms that your organisation hires the most excellent contenders who would promise continual triumph.

CRI is certified by British Standard Institute BSI for the scope of BS 7858:2019 screening of individuals working in a secure environment, Code of practice and BS 102000:2018 Code of practice for the provision of investigative services. The BSI is the only BS 7858 accredited background screening services provider in the UAE and the Middle East. Find out more about the BS 7858:2019 or download our BS7858:2019 free playbook.

The more you invest in sourcing morally correct corporate conduct, the more you can expect to be rewarded with a catalytic action to grow and expand your organisation.

Let’s Talk!

Don’t leave hiring to chance. Take a proactive stance with the highest level of background screening as a part of your essential corporate strategy. Contact us today to learn more about our full range of services to help your organisation stay protected.

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CRI™ to attend PBSA Mid-Year Legislative & Regulatory Conference 2022

Corporate Research and Investigations Limited (CRI Group™) is delighted to unveil our place at the 2022 PBSA Mid-Year Legislative & Regulatory Conference in Virginia, USA.

The PBSA Mid-Year Legislative & Regulatory Conference is convened each year in the spring with a large emphasis on law, legislature, training, and compliance associated topics in correlation to the background screening industry. This specific conference offers insight and support for everyone across a range of industries at all levels in the operative hierarchy. Every attendee is guaranteed to leave this conference equipped with significant data and resources to advance them in their individual corporate objectives. It is standard for the Exhibition Hall to be packed with industry affiliates and experts showcasing their goods and services and is an excellent prospect for you to educate yourself about the most recent industry manufactured goods and services that can be used to enrich your organisations stance on conducting background screening.

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Who are the PBSA?

The Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA) is an association that originated in 2003 as a means of progressing brilliance in the screening vocation through encouraging the use of background screening companies when conducting checks on the likes of employees and occupants and presently platforms the abilities of more than 900 member firms around the globe; they diverge from Fortune 100 corporations to smaller, regional organisations that perform masses of employment and tenant background checks each year as a portion of the hiring and leasing process. The PBSA does this by determining and supporting the maximum degree of integrity and execution standards for the experts in this profession.

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What is a background check?

A background check is data which is recorded on a single individual which is brought about at the point of evaluation when verifying their suitability for a role or board. Proprietors ascertain what elements to incorporate in the background check – this is generally built on the trade, location, or housing unit. These elements may include facets such as criminal history data, public records, motorist data, employment records, scholastic information, license authentication, credit information and reference checks. Background checks may also include drug testing, a physical, and even psychological evaluations or assessments. To decide which elements may be included in a background check, candidates are urged to discuss matters with their prospective managers and property administrators.

CRI® is certified by British Standard Institute BSI for the scope of BS 7858:2019 Screening of individuals working in a secure environment, Code of practice and BS 102000:2018 Code of practice for the provision of investigative services. The BSI is the only BS 7858 accredited background screening services provider in the UAE and across the Middle East. Find out more about the BS 7858:2019 below or download the free playbook.

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Why conduct background checks?

Background checks are completed for numerous occasions – this is comprehensive of compliance with accommodation, certification as well as employment rules and regulations. Additionally, background checks can be used to diminish workplace hostility, fraud, larceny, and theft; organisations have an obligation to safeguard their personnel, customers, and the community by directing their efforts to completing their due diligence and accordingly completing a background check on candidates to alleviate perils in homes and workplaces.

The pros of using a specialist third-party service to oversee background checks are countless. All-inclusive background checks are best performed by industry experts who understand where to find and confirm employee data vacillating from criminal, education and employment history records checks to verification of credentials, training, certifications, and other important info claimed by the employee or candidate.

Proprietors tend to employ background checks as a means of generating educated employment decisions by mitigating the risk in selecting the wrong candidate by preserving highly competent candidates for roles in their organisation and thereby reducing their employee turnover rate. These are just a few of the advantages of conducting a background check. Find out more about the significance of conducting a background check below or download the free brochure.

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اكتشف المزيد or DOWNLOAD THE BROCHURE

It is an honour for us to be a part of a conference that extends to and facilitates so many organisations across the globe; more information on the event will be released soon so keep your eye out for our updates! We hope to see you there.

About CRI Group™

Corporate Research and Investigations Limited, or CRI Group™ for short, has been safeguarding businesses from fraud, bribery and corruption since 1990. Globally, we are a leading Compliance and Risk Management company licensed and incorporated entity of the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) and Qatar Financial Center (QFC). CRI™ protects businesses by establishing the legal compliance, financial viability, and integrity levels of outside partners, suppliers and customers seeking to affiliate with your business. Based in London, United Kingdom, CRI™ is a global company with experts and resources located in key regional marketplaces across the Asia Pacific, South Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, North and South America. Our global team can support your organisation anywhere in the world.

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How to Identify and Prevent Employee Fraud?

In 2017 the major European ABB conglomerate admitted that an employee took advantage of serious management failings to disappear with $103 million of the firm’s cash. According to CNN business, ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer and Chief Financial Officer Eric Elzvik admitted that the organizations managers had failed to maintain sufficient segregation of duties in the treasury unit of its subsidiary in South Korea and did not provide enough oversight of local treasury activities.

To top it all off, ABB also failed to keep the signature seals of the South Korean unit secure which as a result, has lead the company became “bound to unauthorized financial contracts, resulting in undetected financial obligations.” 

Organizations rely on the honesty and integrity of their employees, however employee fraud does unfortunately cost companies vast sums of money. Employee fraud is a reality across all sectors – no matter how credible a job applicant is and how stringent your hiring process is – your business is at risk.

Tips on Identifying and Preventing Employee Fraud

When you trust your employees, it is difficult to think the worst of them, even when there are red flags – circumstances or patterns that are out of the ordinary – alerting you to the contrary. If you have suspicions of employee fraud, it is recommended to hire a forensic accountant to help you detect fraud, understand your circumstances, and put together evidence to target and confront the employee without tipping them off.

The good news is that you can plan and train your team to prevent this from taking place; the best thing you can do for your business is to learn how to recognise the warning signs of employee fraud and have robust procedures in place to minimise the risks and opportunities for fraud. Employee fraud covers a wide range of fraudulent activities in the workplace and can vary in seriousness including embezzlement.

Embezzlement involves an employee who transfers company funds into their bank account. One example of an act of embezzlement is deliberately writing cheques in the employees’ name or diverting company assets without authorisation, e.g. customers unknowingly pay into an employee-controlled bank account, not the business’. This is serious fraudulent behaviour, but employees usually get away with it without raising any suspicion by creating non-existent suppliers and fake employees or using counterfeit credit notes to hide/disguise misappropriated monies.

An easy way to spot this type of financial fraud is to scour through the bank statements and financial records of your organisation and check for irregular activities or patterns of unusual and unauthorised transactions.

Another common sign of embezzlement is when either an employee or a manager/director begins to enjoy a lavish lifestyle that is obviously beyond their means, e.g. holidays, cars, clothes/jewellery. In the case that you suspect an employee or director might be embezzling funds from within your company, it is essential to be discreet in your employee fraud investigation to prevent the employee from covering their tracks and disposing of substantial evidence.

Other Common Types of Employee Fraud

• Commission fraud – inflating sales figures to gain a more significant commission than deserved.
• Petty fraud – for example, embellishing an expense claim or taking office supplies.
• Money laundering – hiding the origin of illegally obtained money and washing it through your business.
• Insider Trading – making a profit by using valuable information that is unavailable to the public to their advantage, for example, confidential information that could impact the prices of shares, securities, goods/commodities.
• Manipulation of accounts – false information on sales, purchases or stock can be used to perpetrate fraud for personal financial gain, e.g. overstated trading profits to receive cash/share bonuses, or get a promotion, creating false trading accounts or stock/fixed asset write-offs to obtain goods.

What Can You Do (as an employer) to Minimize Employee Fraud?

The most effective way to minimize employee fraud as an employer is to implement robust management procedures and employee background screening; the implementation of these preventative measures will ensure staff are adequately investigated and monitored and consider the possibilities for collusion between employees – including a conflict of interest. Paying attention to only the procedures within your accounts department is not sufficient. The same procedures can help you across your operations, including sales and procurement.

Minimize the chances of employee fraud with the following procedures:

• Separation of employee responsibilities such as placing orders, recording invoices and collecting debts.
• Requiring purchase or payment authorization by more than one person.
• Compare actual to budgeted expenditure for unexpected patterns.
• Examine bank reconciliations thoroughly.
• Scrutinize cancelled cheques and cheques made out to employees or unusual vendors.
• Review supplier invoices for significant amounts, pricing or volumes.
• Verify credit notes and write-offs with receiving records.
• Install and monitor CCTV to deter theft of stock or equipment.

Fraud Triangle

An American criminologist, Donald R Cressey, devised a theory that involved three aspects that trigger fraud. Understanding these triggers will help you prevent fraud:

• Opportunity – the lack of internal controls or reporting structure/oversight increase the chance of fraud.
• Rationalization – the fraudster will rationalize the continued deception, which increases slowly, perhaps over a few years, becoming an entitlement, i.e. I deserve this. This offers the chance to stop some employee fraud early if robust detection procedures are in place.
• Pressure – overwhelming pressure, be it business factors such as company targets to meet or personal pressures, such as gambling or financial problems.

Implement Pre-employment and Post-employment Employee Screening Now!

Preventing financial loss is crucial for your business’s survival and expansion, which is why it’s essential to know and understand its obvious signs. Use the list above as a guide to protecting your organization.

To detect employee fraud professionally and thoroughly, it is recommended you seek the expertise of a skilled employee fraud accountant as early as possible. They can help you investigate your employees by reviewing your bank statements and financial documents and advise you whether an employee is committing fraud and to what extent. A forensic accountant’s report will also give you the evidence you need to take the necessary action against your employee and act as a deterrent to others.

For a Free and Confidential Chat to Discuss How We Can Help Your Business, contact us. 

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5 Reasons To Run Employee Screening

Being HR professional, we have to deal with rigorous recruitment cycles, and for this, we must meet with several candidates before closing the vacancy. Every HR person has their style of evaluating the candidates, but one thing that needs to be kept in mind before making the final hiring decision is to “Never judge a book by its cover” (Stonehouse, 2017), since at times we might overlook some critical points, perhaps due to a fancy resume or qualification. Every HR professional should consider a crucial step before taking a candidate on board: run employee screening.

According to Business Week – 16% of executive resumes contain false academic claims and/or material omissions relating to educational experience. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that the average cost of a bad hiring decision can equal 30% of the first year’s potential earnings. If you are an HR professional and reading this article, then I can assure you that other HR professionals must be thinking, “is it worth investing additional time and money in pre-employment background screening service?” Let me tell you the key benefits that you can gain from conducting pre-employment background screening services:

1. Better Compliance: It Keeps You Out of Legal Issues

Let’s suppose one of your employees commits fraud in your company, and after investigations, you came to know that the employee did the same with previous employers. At this point, you will regret not conducting their background check, as if you had conducted their employment and criminal check, then you wouldn’t have hired them in the first place.

2. Ensures Credibility When Performing Sensitive Tasks

In addition to legal issues, some background checks can verify a candidate’s creditability in performing their on-job duties. For instance, when a candidate is being hired for the accounts department where petty cash and the company’s account handling are their primary responsibilities, their employment check may come across that his previous employment has concluded due to mishandling of accounts.

3. Safer Work Environment: Keep Employees and Clients Safe

Conducting Background checks can also convey a message throughout the company’s stakeholders, especially its clients, that all employees hired in the company have gone through rigorous checks. Therefore, the data shared by the clients are in safe hands, thus increasing the overall integrity of the company and its staff.

4. Verifies Education and Certification

The increase in the number of fake degrees has amplified the importance of pre-employment check of educations. Therefore, all degrees and certificates of the applicant under consideration should be verified. The outcome of verification is not just about checking an applicant’s honesty but also verifying the legal status of the degrees and their issuing authorities.

5. Stronger Hires, More Savings: It Gives an Overall Picture of the Applicants

Apart from the interviews, pre-employment background checks can help the interviewer to make their hiring decision accordingly. For instance, candidates may have successfully cleared the interview process, but in their employment checks, the company found that they had resigned from their services after they were accused of sexual harassment by colleagues. Irrespective of how competent a candidate is for the vacancy, such red flags regarding the candidate’s behaviour can completely change the hiring decision and safeguard the company from future issues.

It is indeed worth spending extra time and money on pre-employment background screening because making a wrong hiring decision can not only increase recruitment cost and time but may also incur the cost of damage that employee has given to the company, whether in the form of litigation’s or damaging the company’s goodwill.

So, If Your Company is not Conducting Background Screening! Think Again!

Being in HR, you might be creating liability for the company by making the wrong hiring decision. It’s never too late to correct your actions, so contact us, and we can provide our employment background screening services. As it is rightly said, I quote, “better safe than sorry” (Bateson, 2008). 

CRI Group™, based in London, works with companies across the Americas, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific as a one-stop international Risk Management and 

References

1. Bateson, J., 2008. Building Hope: Leadership in the Nonprofit World. United States Of America: Greenwood Publishing Group.
2. Stonehouse, R. A., 2017. You’re Hired! Job Search Strategies That Work. 1st ed. s.l.:eBookIt.com.

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Background Screening Trends You Need To Know Now

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How is COVID-19 Radically Transforming the New-Hire Experience

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenging time for industries, organizations and their teams on every level. HR leaders had to adapt to a new normal quickly. Along with coping with the closing of workplaces and adjusting to working from home, many organizations had significant recruitment, vetting and onboarding activities. With two-thirds of employers reporting increased productivity for remote workers than in-office workers, businesses also discovered the benefits of a remote and flexible workforce. With the human element of HR almost vanishing overnight, HR leaders had to learn how to leverage the “digital” aspect of their jobs, ramp it up and implement it across their processes to deliver a new-hire experience and an overall good employee experience. And these changes are very likely to stay for the long haul.

This article explores how COVID-19 radically transformed the new-hire experience from recruitment to background screening, onboarding, and retention. We also explore some of the advantages of these changes and how you can leverage the new normal into your employee experience and increase retention.

The New Normal

When COVID-19 struck, companies were faced with the difficult task of hiring quickly and economically, continuing effective onboarding processes, and changing the overall new-hire experience whilst managing the day-to-day risks and ever-changing challenges. COVID posed a lot of challenges when it comes to recruitment, such as:

1. Navigating the new realm of virtual recruitment.
2. High demand for recruitment in specific sectors (e.g., pharmaceuticals, retail supermarkets, delivery companies, transportation, retail banks, healthcare).
3. The need to hire employees with a specific skill set (e.g., digital marketing, IT teams, customer service).
4. Accommodating for existing staff working from home.
5. Considering the long-term and short-term economic impact of hiring during the uncertainty of the pandemic.

There was also the onboarding process. Before the pandemic, some would say the process of onboarding an employee begins when the candidate is offered the position and continues until the new employee is considered productive – which could be anytime from the end of a probation period, for example, to a full year and the first appraisal. However, according to a recent survey by CareerBuilder, 25% of employers reported that their onboarding process took a day or less. In comparison, 26% spent a week, 21% over a month, and 11% said their onboarding process extends over three months or longer.

Furthermore, during the pandemic, the number of cases of employee fraud and misconduct grew substantially. In a survey conducted last year by CRI Group, an overwhelming number of respondents said the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting human resources at their company. There are also concerns about fraud, and the protection of confidential information, as much of the workforce has gone virtual in work-from-home (WFH) arrangements. CRI Group’s survey measures the pulse of human resources during a challenging time in business worldwide. The largest number (38%) of survey participants were human resources professionals, but respondents also included managers (19%); executives, directors and administrators (27%); and other roles.

Being digital in a COVID world, where face-to-face interaction is no longer possible, is mostly about optimising the end-to-end employee experience and leveraging data to deliver a somewhat personal employee onboarding experience. Outlined below are ten fundamental tips that support it:

1. Integrate Employee Information from Screening to Onboarding and Deployment

Managing data is a challenge, but it is essential to ensure that the monitoring and engagement of the new hire remain consistent throughout the onboarding lifecycle. Integrate a system that includes Applicant Tracking System (ATS), recruitment, background screening, onboarding, and performance management, and learning/development systems.

2. There are no Shortcuts in Recruitment; Background Screening is More Critical than Ever

Many companies are hiring at an accelerated rate – especially in the medical profession and industries dealing with infectious diseases, medical supply, pharmaceutical companies and research facilities. A need for quick and effective pre-employment screening has arisen, but that is precisely why proper background screening is critical during COVID. Take the revised BS7858:2019 standard: When establishing policies and practices around the standard and vetting new hires against the standard, organisations can show that they place a high value on hiring individuals who possess integrity. Organisations can then task their new hires with responsibilities designed to keep their co-workers, customers and information safe from the negative forces that have become more prevalent in today’s ever-changing COVID-19 world.

3. Reduce Insider Fraud or Misconduct Risk and Increase Employee Integration Success Rate from the Get-Go

Unfortunately, during the COVID-19 crisis, employee fraud has increased. According to a 2020 report from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, 5% of all revenue generated by organisations – some three and a half trillion pounds globally – is lost every year through fraud committed by employees. Effective background screening for candidates and employees is an essential and effective countermeasure.

4. Leverage HR Technology, Social Media and Remote Working to Elevate the Employee Experience

Remote working is very much a given in this era, so you must leverage technology to not only facilitate your new hire now but their job as a future permanent employee. It will also reduce the need for face-to-face support while at the same time encouraging pro-activity and self-service. In today’s reality, employee experience is not just about boosting employee engagement but more about employee support effectiveness as a whole – while reducing dependencies on HR at the same time.

5. Engage New-Hire from the Get-Go

Employee onboarding starts not just when the employee joins the organization. Your very first email is the first experience the candidate has with your organization. In the fast world of recruitment, too many sure candidates drop your process or reject your offers for a better one. It is essential to keep the candidate engaged while at the same time initiating a slow process of integrating her/him into the organization asap — by doing so, you will improve the offer-to-join ratio.

6. Accelerate the Time-to-Competency for New Hires by Reducing the Learning Curve

It is important to establish expectations, set clear goals for the new hire, and monitor them consistently. Investing in employees’ professional development has always been an attractive “benefit” of any luring organization. With COVID and the inability to learn on the job, this is more important. Why? Employees at all levels worldwide have been flung into a different and new way of working, which requires a very different skill set. According to Gallup, organizations that invest in employee development report 11% greater profitability. Every individual has his/ her learning style and ways of retaining information, so leverage all the digital tools available such as on-demand videos, live chats, virtual assistants, and other forms of interactive self-paced learning options.

7. Up-skilling Your People by Providing Learning and Knowledge Retention Tools on Demand

Learning is key to making an employee productive. Training new and current employees to cope with the ongoing changes from the COVID-19 pandemic will help them remain productive. Employee retention like this is invaluable, especially as recruitment has become that bit trickier in a remote world. Do not lose top talent, knowledge and experience, for lacking that extra level of support.

8. Mental Health is Critical; It is Time to Acknowledge and Practice it

The turbulence of today’s dual health and economic crises is unprecedented and is affecting employees. PwC’s 2020 Global Consumer Insights survey shows a shift in the consumer’s priority, with 69% saying they are caring more about their mental health and physical fitness, and 63% saying they want to eat healthier as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A study from Tilburg University in the Netherlands (commissioned by the IOSH – Institution of Occupational Safety and Health) estimated around 12.8 billion working days are lost due to anxiety and depression. The study concluded that organizations could help prevent mental health problems from becoming more severe and achieve a more sustainable workplace by paying attention to each individual’s situation and conditions. Employers must emphasize meeting individual needs and finding a more tailored approach where the new reality can safely “cohabit” with a desired new future. Leveraging social media to provide a robust peer support system is equally helpful – these will aid the onboarding process.

9. The Employee Continuously Due Diligence

Conduct a periodic review of existing employees. Investing in due diligence is vital to mitigate the risks and identify fraud. Periodically screening and vetting existing employees can protect and enhance the overall security of your organization.

10. Cut Costs Drastically

Leveraging these new changes and integrating them into your onboarding cycle can help reduce expenses drastically across your business. It eliminates the cost that comes when placing the wrong candidate.

EmploySmart – Take the First Step Towards Transforming Your Employee Background Screening!

Businesses have to adapt quickly to survive, which can mean cutting steps in their hiring process, and no one knows how this will play out. Using a vendor to conduct your background screening effectively will invaluably make your onboarding process more scalable. It will allow you to focus on delivering consistently superior services to new hires across the board and, more importantly, focus on the fun stuff like supporting the new hire on their continued improvement.

We understand how important it is to monitor all stages from recruitment to onboarding and from onboarding to learning and development; that’s why our employee screening reports are easy to “transcribe” to whatever HR ecosystem you use. Our reports will essentially complement the effectiveness of any employee onboarding process and, therefore, your HR department.

Mitigate the employee risk impact! Learn how with this FREE eBook. Taken as a whole, this eBook is the perfect primer for any HR professional, business leader and company looking to avoid employee background screening risks. It provides the tools and knowledge needed to stay ahead of COVID-19 effectively. DOWNLOAD now!

Filed under: Background Investigation,

What’s Law vs Allowed with Pre-employment Screening Around the World:

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BS 7858:2019 | The New Way to Mitigate Employee Risk During COVID-19

BS 7858:2019 Standard: A New Way to Mitigate Employee Risk During COVID-19

BS 7858:2019 Standard is the revised standard for screening individuals working in secure environments. The far-reaching impact of the COVID-19 outbreak has affected virtually every business and economic sector worldwide. Depending on the global region, the far-reaching implications have hampered (on various levels) the ability to conduct proper and thorough background screening investigations.

In the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, the countrywide lockdowns forced leaders to close sites and send their workforce home. Many have to learn how to manged people working from home (WFH) or remotely for the first time. The previous concerns about productivity, privacy and protecting sensitive information only grew more with the practice of WFH.

They highlighted the vital importance of pre-employment background screening and background investigations. BS 7858:2019 Standard for screening individuals working in secure environments offers a complete solution.

Unfortunately, conducting such investigations in a reliable and timely manner has brought its struggles. The closure of public information sources has dramatically impacted accessing public records to verify previous employment, education and criminal charges.

Drug screening tests have been delayed or postponed until such companies are permitted to reopen their doors for business. On the applicant side, it’s been widely reported that individuals are concerned (and rightly so) about participating in face-to-face interviews. Applicants are concerned with leaving their homes to do a drug test and, ultimately, returning to a work environment that may or may not appear healthy, protected and safe.

Recruitment Fraud and How BS 7858:2019 Standard Provide the Solutions

Investigators themselves have hesitations about venturing into the field to complete their assignments, which may require a high degree of boots-on-the-ground research and in-person interaction in many countries. Fortunately, the background screening industry is resilient.

It is steadily working around these obstacles to ensure that workplaces are safeguarded, workers, customers and property are protected, and sensitive information doesn’t fall into rogue hands. This is particularly important in those sectors that rely heavily on vetting personnel working in secure environments responsible for people, property, data and critical systems.

It’s important for the mere fact that a trending increase in recruitment fraud is creating additional challenges for already over-burdened employers. Last year recruitment fraud cost £23 billion in the UK alone.

The BS7858:2019 Standard

The recent update of the BS7858:2019 standard, “Screening of Individuals Working in a Secure Environment – Code of Practice,” emphasizes the risk assessment of secure environment workers. The code focuses on the need for tighter controls over the pre-employment screening – and periodic re-screening – of individuals, who in their positions, could potentially benefit from illicit personal gain, become compromised, or take advantage of other opportunities for creating breaches of confidentiality, trust or safety.

Written by the British Standards Institute, which is recognized as the UK’s national standards body, BS7858:2019 lays out the scope of “obtaining personal background information to enable organizations to make an informed decision, based on risk, on employing an individual in a secure environment.”

Those workers include business owners, directors, partners, silent partners and shareholders holding more than 10% of the business; managers, area managers, department managers, screening managers and staff; installers and service crew; security personnel; and office supervisors and staff with access to customer and system records.

The amended guidelines of the standard put the onus on the organization’s top management to demonstrate that they are focused on the aspects of the business where the most risk lies and the particular personnel roles involved within those risks areas.

This is particularly important because, as the standard states, the “organization retains ultimate responsibility for an outsourced screening process and is required to review the completed screening file.” Risks assessment includes examining certain roles that involve financial tasks, data security, goods management, property risks or any number of “people risks” such as roles with direct access to vulnerable adults and children.

To that end, management ensures that the organization has proper and adequate resources and infrastructure to manage the adequate vetting of high-risk personnel. Management is tasked with the response and that there is a firm commitment at the top level to manage and support the coordination required to execute the screening process.

Finally, management is tasked with ensuring that such responsibilities are appropriately assigned and communicated throughout the organization. The guideline also eliminates its original text in 2012, a requirement to produce character references as part of the screening process. This decision was based on the supposition that such references are now deemed potentially weak and difficult to verify. 

Price of a Bad Hire

The price of a bad hire has far-reaching consequences for any business, including productivity loss, decreased employee morale, risks to employee safety, increased exposure to costly negligent hiring claims, and potentially devastating litigation. The premise behind the standard is to safeguard employers from harmful or fraudulent hires. Cases of organizations that forego conducting due diligence on a new hire – especially a hire with high-risk exposure – often end badly for those organizations.

The revised BS7858:2019 standard enables organizations to demonstrate a commitment to safeguarding their businesses, employees, customers and information utilizing widely accepted methods that focus on risk assessment and top-down management involvement in the company’s employment policies and practices. In establishing standards and practices, organizations can show that they place a high value on hiring individuals who possess integrity. Organizations can then task them with responsibilities designed to keep their co-workers, customers and information safe from the negative forces that have become more prevalent in today’s ever-changing COVID-19 world.

Playbook | Everything About BS 7858:2019 Standard

The price of a bad hire has far-reaching consequences for any business, including productivity loss, decreased employee morale, risks to employee safety, increased exposure to costly negligent hiring claims, and potentially devastating litigation. The premise behind the standard is to safeguard employers from bad or fraudulent hires. Cases of organizations that forego conducting due diligence on a new hire – especially a hire with high-risk exposure – often end badly for those organizations.

At CRI® Group, we know how important is your background screening to your company’s success and to give you an idea of what is new, we have produced this playbook detailing the differences between the BS7858:2012 standard and the new BS7858:2019 standard.

DOWNLOAD OUR FREE PLAYBOOK

Managing People through COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is undeniable, affecting the world. And the situation is changing at an hourly rate as we go into a second global lockdown. Businesses have to adapt quickly to survive, i.e. cutting steps in their hiring process, and no one knows how this will play out. However, there are ways you can mitigate the impact, learn how from this free ebook.

Taken as a whole, this ebook is the perfect primer for any HR professional, business leader and company looking to avoid employee background screening risks. It provides the tools and knowledge needed to stay ahead of COVID-19 effectively. Read the answers to the following questions:

• Does a candidate have to give consent to process a background check/screening?
• How long does it take to conduct a background check?
• When should I conduct pre-employment checks?
• How often should I screen employees?
• How to collect references, and what to ask?
• How much does it cost to conduct background checks?
• What is the difference between employment history verification and employment reference?

DOWNLOAD OUR FREE PLAYBOOK

FAQ E-Book | All About Background Checks

The price of a bad hire has far-reaching consequences for any business, including productivity loss, Get answers to frequently asked questions about background checks/screening cost, guidelines, check references etc.

Taken as a whole, it is the perfect primer for any HR professional, business leader and company looking to avoid employee background screening risks. It provides the tools and knowledge needed to make the right decisions. This eBook is a compilation of all of the background screening related questions you ever needed answers to:

• Does a candidate have to give consent to process a background check/screening?
• How long does it take to conduct a background check?
• When should I conduct pre-employment checks?
• How often should I screen employees?
• How to collect references, and what to ask?
• How much does it cost to conduct background checks?
• What is the difference between employment history verification and employment reference?
• How do I check on entitlement to work?
• How to conduct identity checks?
• What will a financial regulatory check show?
• Is it possible to identify conflict of interest during checks?
• What is a bankruptcy check?
• What about directorships and shareholding search?
• Can I have access to a criminal watch list?
• Anti-money laundering check?
• Can we conduct FACIS (fraud and abuse control information system) searches?

DOWNLOAD OUR FAQ EBOOK

CRI Group™ | BS7984:2008 Accredited Company

Based in London, CRI Group™ works with companies across the Americas, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific as a one-stop international Risk Management, Employee Background Screening, 

Filed under: COVID-19 Insights,