By Jason Morris, President & Kevin Bachman, VP of Quality Service.
We have made a conscious effort over the years to NOT make our blog a self-promotional site. In fact, it’s with great care that we let you draw your own conclusions from the information that we put out.
On Sunday a story hit the AP wire that has made its way around our industry. The article, points a wicked finger at the screening industry as dangerous, lazy and careless. The article calls out a few background check companies, also known as Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRA’s) for reporting incorrect, and un-verified information to employers. Employers use these inaccurate reports to deny people jobs, hurting innocent people simply looking for work.
We love to take strong positions against inaccurate reporting. We find no more pleasure than calling out news that is wrong, looking smarter than some reporter looking to make his bones by writing a careless expose… WE CAN’T DO THAT HERE. The reporter was right in all aspects except one; WE ARE NOT ALL THE SAME!
Are there companies that are careless and quick to pass along outdated or inaccurate information? YES. Are there companies that use only databases and don’t research actual court records? YES. Are there companies that simply scrape data off of court websites and don’t check it for accuracy? You guessed it, YES AGAIN. It’s these companies that give us all a bad name; pushing onto employers the idea that screening is a commodity then sell the cheapest product possible to fit neatly into the world they’ve just created.
There are reasons for this. Conducting background checks is a complicated business. The employers are generally unaware of the nuances of local, county, state, and federal laws, their processes, problems or regulations. And that’s not their fault. It’s not their business. But without this knowledge, and with all companies claiming to do the same thing, it’s easy to discount claims of service and accuracy and simply look at price and whiz-bang technology systems. On the other side, these screening companies know this; and their use of terms like “criminal search”, “instant” and “national background check,” combined with bells and whistles software allows them to perpetuate a higher degree of accuracy than their processes actually provide.
Last week we wrote about our experience at the Criminal Records and Employment Conference at Cornell ILR Law School in NY. We wrote about the civil rights activists that were upset about all things screening. We still stand tall and disagree with many of their positions; however, it’s stories like this that help us realize why they are so upset! People are getting hurt everyday by these careless background checks and companies hiding behind loopholes in the Fair Credit Reporting Act rather than taking personal responsibility for their actions.
Its because of all this that EmployeeScreenIQ takes a “No Shortcuts” approach to all things screening. “No Shortcuts” is more than just a tagline or fancy marketing campaign. It is the foundation for how we operate our business. This mantra is employed at every level of our organization so that you can make informed hiring decisions. One of the worst things you can do in your background screening process is to make a hiring decision based on inaccurate data. Rather than just reporting raw, unconfirmed information, EmployeeScreenIQ takes the necessary steps to ensure the results are reliable, accurate and up to date. Three fundamental principles of the Federal law WE choose to follow.
Before reporting criminal records to you, our Public Records department actually confirms that the information we’ve found belongs to your applicant. They also actually consult our 50 state compliance guide to ensure that the record is legally reportable. Believe it or not, the same methods apply to verifying other pieces of adverse information such as employment and education verifications. We’re all for streamlining the process and reducing turnaround time, but it should NEVER come at the expense of a quality product. Want proof that our methods work? Only .017% of all county criminal checks we complete are disputed. (A dispute rate that this article points out screening companies are unwilling to publish!!!)
The proof is in the pudding. EmployeeScreenIQ has successfully achieved compliance with the National Association of Professional Background Screeners accreditation program and is formally recognized as Background Screening Credentialing Council Accredited. This recognition affirms EmployeeScreenIQ’s commitment to excellence, accountability, high professional standards and continued institutional improvement. Less than 2% of employment screening companies have earned this distinction and we are pleased to share such a small stage.
Accreditation is an important seal of approval that all companies should look for when choosing a provider as it is the only program in our field that proves their procedures are compliant with industry best practices. It also affirms security protocols, industry knowledge and expertise.
AP IMPACT: When your criminal past isn’t yours
Continue Reading
?
