Look again: Why vetting is crucial
As companies grow, evolve and go global, a key HR practice will be ensuring that the person you hire has completely and accurately represented themselves
Indian companies are operating in an evolving and dynamic environment and the best way to do this is to be open to changing the way one operates. India is witnessing growth across sectors and cities, be it the booming startup sector, the retail sector or the global brands entering the Indian market.
One of the most important factors facilitating this growth is the talent available in the country. But the question remains, ‘Is that talent ready and in sync with the growing needs and demands of industry?’ No one can deny that it’s the people who form the backbone of any successful company, brand or economy.
There have been many unfortunate incidents, more so in the recent past, where companies have had to face financial and reputational loss due to fraud or misbehaviour of employees.
Plenty of examples are available of employee frauds and fake credentials of even the senior candidates altering or faking credentials, situations that could have been prevented.
Employers not taking adequate steps to really know their employees beyond what is written on the two sheets of paper as shared by recruitment consulting firm will stay vulnerable to such risks.
Shying away from this fact may not solve the crisis of lack of trust that employers are facing, but what may solve this would be an extensive employee background screening before taking the candidates on-board.
Background intelligence may sound intrusive and may pose certain potential privacy concerns, but when done with a specific goal in mind and by taking consent from the prospective employee, could really mitigate risks for the employers – risks that may have far bigger financial and reputational risks than they can foresee.
It also helps HR departments build a talented and productive workforce with genuine skillsets and a healthy work environment based on trust and confidence in its team members.
Some of the top background checks that are being requested by HR teams are:
1. Identity checks:
These are the basic checks to verify the base identity of a person.it involves authenticating the claimed identity using national IDS like passport, voter ID, PAN, driver’s licence, Aadhaar number and ration card.
It’s the most common check across industries and in particular, has proved to be extremely useful for on-demand economy and blue-collar workforces.
2. Employment and Education Verification:
Given the extreme competition and demand-supply mismatch of job opportunities, these two areas face the maximum lies or exaggerations by the candidates.
The skillset, experience, remuneration heavily depend on these credentials and letting these go unverified can be extremely dangerous and damaging, especially in sectors such as banking/ accounting / IT & It-enabled services and medicine/ engineering and educational institutions.
3. Litigation:
For building a healthy working environment, it’s important for any employer to be certain that people they hire are not criminals. With some unfortunate incidents tarnishing brands image in recent past, this is an emerging category wherein employers are checking civil and criminalbackgroundsofemployees starting from the blue-collar employees and going right to the top of the ladder.
We have found that in some districts in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, of every 100 applications received, as many as 15 had a criminal or a civil case pending against them.
4. Drug Screening:
A growing vertical in background screening as increasingly companies which hire young people in huge numbers are asking for drug screening.
It’s understandable that companies would be concerned and not want to let a person in that could potentially hamper productivity and disturb the work environment.
In a recent case, we found that 70 of 100 applicants in their early 20s tested positive for the use of psychotropic substances.
5. Global Regulatory & Compliance Debarment Database Check:
This check is increasingly become popular in the white-collar space and is extremely useful for people looking at international level positions.in the current socio-political scenario across the globe, employers want to be certain that they are not hiring anyone with a chequered past.
This screening throws up if the candidate has been on any government wanted lists or has been involved in serious crimes such as money laundering, human trafficking or terrorism. An example from our past experience is where we did a background check on a teacher in a boarding school in India and we found that the employee was on an Interpol list on account of having allegedly been involved in terrorist activity.
To sum it up, background screening proves to be an important tool for any HR division, the only thing to watch out for is that it should be done strictly for one’s professional requirement and by taking consent of the person whose background is being looked into.
By following some of the above measures, one can spend some of the time and effort that goes into bringing a person on board in checking out who they are, and this would save a company and its reputation from being tarnished by someone who has either offered incomplete or inaccurate representation of themselves.
Another aspect is handling the data responsibly and any good background verification company would take this up with seriousness. At Authbridge, we use up-to-date technology and proprietary databases to build a trust infrastructure which allows companies to operate in an environment of and transact with individuals in confidence.
Background checks help filter out people who may prove to be inefficient, or put a company’s reputation at risk.
The author is CEO and founder of background verification company Authbridge