Yes, the economy is shaky and the labor market is incredibly competitive.
It’s hard to find enough people, let alone good people, to fill open positions. These and other current conditions make it incredibly tempting for small business owners to forgo background checks, but now is not the time to cut costs by skipping screenings.
Here are 5 reasons why background checks for small businesses remain an essential hiring tool.
“Padded” Resumes – It’s sadly becoming more and more common for job seekers to pad their resumes with skills, experience, or education that is less than true. The statistics about lies on resumes are alarming.
Small businesses rely on background check services to verify critical employment and education details about candidates to avoid onboarding folks without the experience or integrity needed to make a valuable contribution.
High Costs of Bad Hires – Small businesses cannot afford to make a bad hire. Bringing in the wrong person is phenomenally expensive, far more than the cost of a comprehensive background check.
Bad hire costs include recruitment, hiring, and training expenses and lost productivity as well as the all-too-possible costs of lost assets, damage to your business reputation, or negligent hiring lawsuits.
Safety – Employers are responsible for creating and maintaining a safe work environment and that responsibility extends to doing due diligence before onboarding new hires.
For example, red flags in a criminal record background check or positive drug tests can’t be ignored and employees can be held liable if they neglect to employ reasonable methods to uncover them.
Employers are also responsible for building a work environment that’s positive and non-toxic for everyone. Low morale always follows bad hires; pre-employment background checks are an excellent way to improve the quality of your hires and build a workplace where everyone wants to be.
Mandates – Sometimes small businesses don’t have a choice. Certain industries mandate background checks. If this describes your industry, never, ever skip the check.
Growth – While you might only be hiring a handful of people today when growth comes, you’ll need to bring on more people to help. Having a solid background check process and policy in place today puts you in a great position to scale up as needed.
The Bottom Line
Don’t skip the background check. If you aren’t running them yet, today is the day to start.
As a small business owner, you can’t afford to neglect this essential ingredient for making safe hires. Contact a certified background check provider to discuss how they can improve your hiring process for the new year.