The importance of screening your employees can’t be dismissed, regardless of the company’s size. When conducting employee screening, the process should be the same whether you’re running a multinational corporation or a small enterprise.
It’s important to understand that conducting Right to Work checks is a legal requirement in many countries, including the UK. Regardless of where your candidates come from you must conduct a Right to Work check as part of your onboarding process. This check ensures that your candidates have the legal right to work in the UK, and is essential to avoid facing hefty fines and legal repercussions to your business. By conducting these checks, not only can you be safe in the knowledge that you have hired the right person, you will be seen to demonstrate your commitment to compliance and integrity.
The process of hiring new employees is costly and time consuming so when you’re faced with the reality that the person you have hired has malicious intentions or has misrepresented their qualifications, it can have a significant impact on small businesses in particular. With limited resources and significantly smaller budgets, the financial ramifications of a wrong hire can have a big impact on smaller businesses. Not only that, the result of hiring someone who has falsely represented themselves could cost your company breaches of confidentiality, internal conflicts or even criminal activities.
Screening your employees ensures you are mitigating any potential risks, and can reassure you that your employees are genuine and have only the best intentions for your business. To provide an overall insight into a candidate’s background it is recommended that checks such as; Criminal Record check, Employment verification, Identity Verification and Right to Work checks are carried out. These checks ensure that the majority of potential scenarios where a candidate may lie has been covered and checked by investing in robust screening procedures.
As well as protecting yourself and your business by undergoing background screening checks, you can promote that your business conducts these checks as part of their onboarding process. For example, you run a domestic cleaning service, you choose, as part of your service that all your cleaning professionals are fully DBS checked and have a valid Right to Work document. By advertising that all your cleaners are DBS checked and have valid Right to Work documentation, your customers can be reassured that they have trustworthy individuals working within their homes. Showcasing that you have a rigorous screening process can be a powerful advertising tool and a unique selling point (USP), which may well set you apart from your competitors.
Screening your employees is a crucial part of your onboarding process and should not be overlooked regardless of the size of your business. By conducting these checks you can ensure the safety of your staff, your business and avoid any potential risks.
