While many employers understand the importance of pre-employment screening checks, only a few rescreen current employees. As Dylan John, the Executive General Manager of HR at Equifax succinctly puts it, “Most businesses in Australia do a background check on employees at the point of hire and never do it again. If they do, it’s usually once every three to five years. A lot can happen during that time”. Research shows that less than one-third of employers perform secondary checks.
However, the information derived from a pre-screening check is only valid up till that point. Why? Because a lot can happen within a short period. Employees can get new professional certificates, or even commit a crime. To stay up-to-date on the status of employees, rescreening practices should be adopted by companies.
Here are the top three reasons it is important and wise to rescreen current employees:
#1 Maintain Updated Records
Humans are the most important factor of production. That’s why companies have a responsibility to protect their human resource. One way of doing that is by keeping an updated record on the conduct of employees.
Unless a crime occurs in the workplace, it’s practically impossible to tell if an external crime occurred unless a company rescreens her employees.
As an example, consider a male accountant whose national criminal history record came clean, and check card history was solid at the point of hire. However, a few years down the line, he went through a bad divorce and is now financial-stressed. At the present point, the temptation to engage in fraud is quite compelling. As an employer, knowing about this kind of important life change is very important to know the best way to act.
#2 Inefficiencies in Pre Screening Employees
Although many employers typically carry out background checks including police checks, education checks, criminal history checks, and more. However, a fact of life is that no system is 100 % efficient. And so, there’s a possibility that undesired applicants slip through the cracks.
Rescreening employees is a great way to capture crucial information that might have been missed out in the pre-screening phase.
Imagine an employee that lied about his/her educational experience, but for some reason, it wasn’t captured during the pre screening check. Now, the employee cannot fulfill his or her responsibilities. The managers are baffled because the candidate looked ‘good on paper’ and was even screened. Rescreening can help employers capture crucial information that was originally missed out.
#3 Staying Updated on Screening Requirements
A few decades ago, background checks only involved police checks. But as time progressed, it became more comprehensive. This highlights the fact that screening requirements do change; either due to changes in the country’s law or company policy. It is important to ensure that current employees fulfill the current screening requirements for their particular role at every point in time.
How Often Should Companies Rescreen Employees?
It is best practice for employers to rescreen employees annually, ideally around their anniversary date. In addition to annual rescreens, employers should also consider rescreening when:
- A current employee gets a promotion or changes in job responsibility
- Contract workers are hired for a new project
- An employee is involved in a workplace incident
The leadership team, including board members, are not exempt and should also be rescreened annually.