A Closer Look At Employment Investigations

When you're a business owner, manager, or leader, your business is your baby. And with so many other companies operating in the New York area, it's vital that you take every step you possibly can to ensure that you are able to keep your business on target. While things like marketing or sales do indeed matter, there's another element involved in the success of a business that is often overlooked – your team.

Hiring the right people is incredibly important, which is probably why over half of all companies today utilize employee background screenings of some kind to find out more about the past of their applicants. There are plenty of different reasons to conduct different types of employment investigations, and understanding some of them is a good idea. A basic employment screening will look into a number of the following, while some of the other checks are more specialized but often are no less important.

• Basic Verification – This essentially looks into things like SSN verification, address verification, driving records, and character references. It's used to make sure that the applicant really is who they say they are.
• Education Check – Did you know that between 10 and 16 percent of all applications have falsified education information on them? While for some positions this isn't that big of a deal, for others it's vital that the applicant actually have the experience they claim to have. An education check will ensure just that.
• Criminal Records – Companies lose an average of 5% of their total revenue every single year to employee fraud. While there's no way to totally stop it, checking criminal histories can help ensure that you're hiring the most honest people possible.
• Credit Checks – An employee will need to sign a release, but credit checks are very useful for positions that require the workers to handle money regularly. The idea is that bad credit could lead to desperate situations, or show poor judgment in money related matters. A credit check will find out what you need to know about this situation.
• Activity Checks – These are nothing more than investigations into the lifestyle of the employee – their activity level, smoking or drinking habits, and so on. It can help mitigate insurance and health costs for companies.
• Worker's Comp or Insurance Investigations – These checks look to see if an employee has a history of filing insurance or worker's comp claims. Fraudulent charges can lead to huge costs for a business, and if an employee has a history of filing claims you might need to avoid hiring them.

In short, there are lots of employment investigations that could be conducted to help ensure you're hiring the best person for any job. Don't overlook how important this is for your business.