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Risk Management

Think about the possible ramifications of making just one bad hiring decision. The recruiting, on-boarding and training process is both time intensive and costly. Consider the top inherent risks associated with employees.

• Resume/Qualification Falsification
• Workplace Violence
• Fraud/Theft
• Criminal Activity
• Litigation

These incidents can have a devastating impact on your business including financial and time drain, litigation and most hurtful, damage to your reputation. EmployeeScreenIQ makes pre-employment screening affordable at a fraction of the cost of not doing so. Consider the following statistics when developing your screening return on investment (ROI).

EmployeeScreenIQ Statistics
Approximately 18% of all applicants that EmployeeScreenIQ screens have some sort of criminal conviction on their record. While not all records found preclude the individual from getting hired, the information helps employers make an informed hiring decision.

EmployeeScreenIQ has seen a 29% rise in criminal records found since 2006.
Of candidates with criminal records, EmployeeScreenIQ finds approximately 3 records per candidate.

1 of every 8 records found by EmployeeScreenIQ is a Felony.

EmployeescreenIQ finds a 56% discrepancy rate between what an applicant claims on their job application and what their past employers or academic institution reveals. The most common inconsistencies relate to job titles and salary.

Discrepancies are found almost 70% of the time when EmployeeScreenIQ is asked to verify 3 or more employers.

EmployeeScreenIQ finds an average of 2.2 discrepancies per applicant when asked to verify 3 or more employers.

EmployeeScreenIQ finds a 10% discrepancy rate on applicants when conducting education verifications.

Workplace Violence

• 5% of the 7.1 million private industry business establishments surveyed in 2005 reported having an incident of workplace violence within the past 12 months.
• Half of the largest establishments (Employing 1,000 or more workers) reported an incident
• Private industry and goods-producing industries reported a higher percentage of co-worker workplace violence than service providing industries.
• Service providing industries reported much higher percentages of criminal, customer, and domestic violence than goods-producing industries.
• 21% reported that the incident affected the fear level of their employees
• 21% reported that the incident affected their employees' moral
• 48% reported some type of negative effect due to the incident

Reported by: The National Center for Victims of Crime
Surveys conducted by: Bureau of Labor Statistics (Reported 2004 & 2006), U.S. Department of Labor (BLS), for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• Manner in which workplace fatalities occurred:
• Assaults and violent acts: 15%
• Homicide: 11%

Surveys conducted by: Bureau of Labor Statistics (Press Release 2007), U.S. Department of Labor (BLS), National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in 2007

EmployeeScreenIQ helps mitigate the possibility of these risks through our Criminal Records, References and Credentialing, and Substance Abuse Screening services.

Fraud/Theft

• On average, companies lose 5 percent of their gross revenue to occupational fraud each year, according to the ACFE's 2006 Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud and Abuse.
• Approximately 30 percent of all employees admit stealing from their employers, according to Common-Sense Measures Preventing Employee Theft, a U.S. Small Business Administration report.
• 41.2 percent of the perpetrators of employee theft are managers, 39.5 percent are employees, and 19.3 percent are owners or executives, according to the ACFE. 61 percent of employee thieves are male, while 39 percent are female. The loss isn't material. The ACFE estimates annual losses at $50 billion to $70 billion. In the most extreme instances, a theft problem can have devastating consequences affecting the very survival of a company. The impact is even more pronounced on small businesses.
• Most thefts go undetected. Studies show that most thieves eventually become careless and are discovered. Most are reported by co-workers (34 percent), discovered by accident (25 percent), or revealed by internal controls or audits (20 percent), according to the ACFE.

Report by: "Not wanted: thieves; It's not just ne'er-do-wells who are stealing"
HR Magazine Vol. 53, No. 4, April, 2008 by Kevin M. Hart Surveys conducted by: Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

EmployeeScreenIQ helps mitigate the possibility of these risks through our Criminal Records, References and Credentialing, Credit and Identity and Substance Abuse Screening services.

Legal Defense – Are Companies that Screen less likely to be held liable?
The plaintiff was raped by a co-worker and she sued the employer for negligent hiring. The lower court ruled for the employer and the Court of Appeals of Ohio affirmed (Prewitt v. Alexson Servs., Inc. , 2008 WL 3893575). The company performed a criminal back-ground check; it was not obliged to go further.

10/01/2008 Fair Employment Practices Guidelines Journal
The plaintiff accused a co-worker, a physician, of sexually harassing her and sued for negligent hiring. The co-worker said he disclosed prior sexual harassment charges against him, and his exoneration, during his interview, which the company then completed a proper background check. There was no evidence that the company covered up or ignored the doctor's conduct. "Therefore," the Court of Appeals of Kentucky held in (Harper v. National Health Services, 2008 WL 2696899) "we must also concur with the trial court's decision that no genuine issues of material fact existed that the employer was negligent in its hiring and retention of [the doctor]."

09/01/2008 Fair Employment Practices Guidelines Journal
EmployeeScreenIQ helps mitigate the possibility of these risks through our FCRA compliant procedures and commitment to best practices. This also allows us to help our clients avoid issues related to negligent hiring practices.

Workplaces at Risk

• Workers reporting heavy alcohol use or illicit drug use, as well as workers reporting dependence on or abuse of alcohol or illicit drugs, are more likely to have worked for more than three employers in the past year.
• 12.3% said they had worked for three or more employers in the past year, compared with 5.1% of non-abusing workers.
• Likewise, those workers are more likely to have skipped work more than two days in the past month.
• Workers reporting illicit drug use or dependence on or abuse of alcohol or illicit drugs were also more likely to have missed more than two days of work due to illness or injury.

Larson, S.L., Eyerman, J., Foster, M.S., and Gfroerer, J.C. (2007). Worker Substance Use and Workplace Policies and Programs (DHHS Publication No. SMA 07-4273, Analytic Series A-29). Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies.

In several worksite studies, substance-abusing workers, compared with their non-abusing colleagues, are:

• Responsible for 40% of all industrial fatalities
• 3.6 times more likely to be involved in on-the-job accidents
• 5 times more likely to injure themselves or another in the process
• Five times more likely to file a worker's compensation claim
• 33% less productive
• Responsible for health care costs that are three times as high

Report by: The American Council for Drug Education

EmployeeScreenIQ help to mitigate the possibility of these risks through our Substance Abuse Screening services.