A key HR topic trending in all industries right now is ongoing or active employee screenings. Should you re-screen active employees, contractors or temps? If so, how often is appropriate? And what do we do if my employee returns new derogatory information that I never expected of them?

This topic has become a hot button issue for HR departments and hiring managers nationwide. As your screening provider, we want to give you insight on industry the best way to preserve your business and maintain compliance.

While most employers agree on the importance of screening employees for red flags during the pre-hire stage, many do not consider it a priority to re-screen active employees and/or contractors. However, it is becoming more evident of the need for annual, semi-annual or even continuous monitoring to reduce threats and risk to ongoing business success. This is especially true for government or in highly regulated industries, such as the transportation, medical and even real estate industries. Over time we have found that post-hire screening can reduce threats or avoidable occurrences throughout your employee’s tenure.

Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) experts encourage continuous screening, or re-screening to maintain a safe workforce and environment. In the world of social media, HR has to become more familiar with thinking beyond the initial screening for the long-term for the organization. Best practices recommend that you rescreen before a promotion, department switch or if the last check was two or more years ago.

It is also very important to have a consent that covers the life of the relationship (usually signed during the pre-hire stage), and to clearly establish HR’s internal protocol for what type of offenses are acceptable or absolute deal breakers. Make sure you have a well-crafted policy, that takes into account the nature and gravity of the offense versus the position hired for. Establishing your policy for new criminal records uncovered will alleviate confusion on next steps if one has occurred.

For a limited time, we are offering all our active customers a National Criminal check at $5 per employee until May 31, 2018 on annual full employee base screenings. Take advantage of this trial offer today!

If you have more questions about best practices or complying with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) regulations as it pertains to re-screening active employees, please feel free to give our office a call Monday through Thursday 7AM- 7PM at 800.955.5238 ext 2000.