It’s Halloween…
And There’s Nothing Scarier than
Hiring a Bad Employee!
Halloween signals that time of year when many businesses start their November hiring of extra temporary staff to cover the holiday shopping rush—a rush to buy gifts at retail stores, a rush to plan parties at eating and drinking establishments, and a rush for hotels to cover an increase in guests traveling to see family or to vacation during school break.
But business owners shouldn’t be in such a rush to hire that they skip the all-important employee background check. Although temporary employees are only with you for a short time, bad ones can wreak havoc on your business in the form of theft, fraud, violence, and damage to your reputation. Often this damage is irreparable.
Holiday Employee Crime Is Real.
There’s plenty of data to prove that workplace crime goes up during the holidays and that risk is even greater if temporary (or any) employees are hired without a comprehensive employee background check. Someone who has a record of crime may be more prone to commit that crime again.
In an article posted by ALM Property Casualty 360 entitled “Here’s how to keep yourself, your family and your business safe from thieves during the holidays,” the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners stated that “organizations lose an estimated five percent of their total revenues to fraud each year.” The Association recommends “criminal checks, complete reference checks, and even brief ethics checks for all employees, saying companies that don’t take proper precautions run the risk of hiring serial fraudsters in the rush to bring on new help. All employees should be trained to watch for fraud or suspicious activity from shoppers and other employees.”
A Security Today article, “Billions on the Line: Keeping Stores and Shoppers Safe during the Holidays” talks about “Organized Retail Crime,” some of which is, of course, committed by smash and grab/grab and go thieves from the outside, but some of which is committed by employees on the inside. The article states that this type of crime often involves cargo theft by thieves working as an organized group to steal large amounts of inventory during its progress through the supply chain—usually high-priced items for resale. This accounts for as much as $30 billion in losses every year and also increases the likelihood of violence on a retail property.
Circadian Risk, a business risk assessment/security firm, cited a holiday increase in workplace violence, sexual violence and harassment, and drunk driving on the job or at a company party (Source article: “Top Security Risks During the Holidays”). They also reinforced the increase in theft already mentioned above. The reason for the increase in workplace violence, sexual violence and harassment, and drunk driving is an easy one to figure out, with the firm stating that the stress of the holidays increases the risk of conflict in the workplace, which may boil over into violence. The article included information from The Bureau of Labor Statistics, whereby co-workers and work associates were the second biggest cause of workplace homicides.
We would be remiss if we did not mention employee fraud being on the rise during the holiday season. Synovus Business Resource Center (Synovus Bank) published an article, “Prevent Fraud During the Holidays,” cautioning businesses to maintain tight internal controls.
Synovus warns: “The holidays are no time to lighten up on internal accounting controls such as segregation of duties, audits and management review of expenses, bank statements, and collections. While most employees are honest, some are not—and holiday financial pressures may tempt unethical employees. Set thresholds and limits for customer and employee purchases, with oversight for above-limit purchases and too-frequent return attempts. Examine commission policies to ensure that employees are not rewarded for selling to friends, family, or fraudsters who will return merchandise in the post-holiday period.”
You Can Prevent Holiday Employee Crime.
All of the above is a huge risk to your business and your employees. So, what can you do to prevent this from happening to your business?
The first thing you can do is a thorough employee background check of anyone you plan to hire, temporary OR permanent. Of course, you might well ask what is included in a thorough employee background check?
A Thorough Employee Background Check
We recommend a thorough employee background check that includes:
- Misdemeanor and felony criminal record searches at county/state/national levels
- Jurisdictional (state, tribes, territories, the District of Columbia) and national public
sex offender registry websites - State child abuse and neglect central registries
- Written applications and interviews
- Personal/professional reference checks
- Social Security number traces and validations
- Employment and/or education verifications
- Professional license verifications
- Credit reports, civil records, driver’s license, and motor vehicle record checks
- Driver’s record check (for employees who would be driving/transporting children)
- Military records verifications
- Workers’ compensation history searches
- Healthcare sanction checks
- Address history checks
We hope that this blog is helpful in protecting your business, staff, and customers by providing the first step in preventing crimes like these from happening.
Why Choose The Hire Authority for Your Employee
Background Screening?
When hiring employees, it’s important to hire an experienced and professional firm like The Hire Authority to do a thorough screening. Hiring the wrong employee can cost you a lot of money in the form of assaults, theft, fraud, accidents, low productivity, damage to your reputation, and even lawsuits.
Importantly, The Hire Authority is also expert in complex compliance issues regarding state, federal, and county laws. Failure to comply can cost you big in the form of fines and even shutdown.
Be safe, not sorry!
We’d be happy to talk to you about screening your employees. Call us at
(508) 230-5901 or visit our website www.hireauth.com with any questions you may have.
The foregoing should not be construed as legal advice. Employers should always consult their own legal counsel for advice on labor and employment matters.