Why does a company need to perform a background check?
The goal in any hiring process is to gain employees that you have confidence in their abilities and experience. However, things from a candidate's past can fall through the cracks that can affect employment or your company's reputation. Studies show that 3 out of 10 business failures are actually caused by employee theft, and that over half of all job applications contain lies. It is important to have a proper background check process in place to ensure you are hiring the highest quality employees.
Is searching public information or the internet a good background check?
While you should use free public records and internet research to verify candidates' information, public information may not be accurate, since public databases are not obligated to update their information on a regular basis. A background check investigation through our licensed private investigators from Radius Investigations is a more thorough check for information, including data that is not accessible to the public.
What is searched in an employment background investigation?
Our employee background check service consist of an array of different types of inquires tailored to each client’s individual needs; which includes searching criminal, financial, and legal records.
An employment background check from Radius Investigations consists of the following:
- Name Verification
- Address Verification
- Social Security Number Verification
- Driving Records
- Vehicle Registration
- Credit Records (If the employee signs a release)
- Criminal Records
- Court Records
- Workers Compensation
- Bankruptcy
- Character References
- Neighbor Interviews
- Medical Records
- Property Ownership
- Education Records
- Military Records
- State Licensing Records
- Drug Test Records
- Past Employers
- Personal References
- Incarceration Records
- Sex Offender Registry
Call 1-888-698-0077 today for a free consultation with Radius Investigations on how we can conduct thorough employee background checks in NYC and Long Island for your business!
Last month was one of great sadness for America, but a sadness which comes with a bitter sense of familiarity. With the world still reeling from news of the on air murders of a reporter and a cameraman in Virginia, people are once again asking themselves ‘How was this allowed to happen?’
In a country where gun crime is endemic, where few people want to give up the right to bear arms, is it still possible to protect ordinary people? What measures need to be put in place to make sure that people like WDBJ-TV reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward do not get caught in the cross-hairs of somebody who should have been labeled a danger from the start?
For some businesses, running background checks can seem like an unnecessary expense. However, there are a variety of reasons that it's a smart idea to always be diligent about checking your employees' backgrounds, both before and after hiring them.
1. It Helps Weed Out Dishonest People
Quite frankly, about half of the applicants you receive for any one job opening will be lying to you about something. It might be something small like dates or a job description, but it might be something big, like revealing that an applicant never held that job at all, or lacks the qualifications they claim to have. When you have so many people applying for a single job, checking up on references, experience, and education can help make the pool of viable candidates that much smaller.
There are many aspects to running a business. One of them is to prevent employee fraud. Theft has been around since the beginning of time, and it is not going away any time soon. In fact, in the digital age, criminals are more sophisticated than ever before. However, by hiring private investigators, you can mitigate the risk of crime to your business, helping to protect your assets and profits. Here are some examples of how private investigators can protect your business.
Today, an estimated 90% of major employers in the country utilize employee background checks to ensure that their employees are being honest on their applications and that they're a good fit for the business. These pre-employment screenings can look for fraudulent claims on an application, criminal history, financial history, and much more.
It's important to take a closer look at just why it's critical to utilize employee background checks, and what it really comes down to in most cases is cost. By thoroughly scrutinizing the background of the people you may hire, you'll be able to ensure that you don't cost your company money by making hiring mistakes. Here's a look at some of the ways this is true.
Your company needs every advantage that it can get in order to thrive in today's business climate. It's important to pay attention to everything from marketing to sales strategies and beyond, but many companies have now realized just how important the hiring process can be as well. Hiring the right employees is a must, and hiring errors can cost a company thousands of dollars – sometimes more.
There are numerous benefits offered by running employment background checks, including:
Businesses don't operate in a vacuum. They rely on teamwork and allies – not only from employees, but from partners, suppliers, vendors, accountants, and more. In short – you'll likely end up doing business with a lot of different people in order to keep your company moving forward.
From time to time, you might find that the use of a private investigator is needed. A private eye isn't really what the movies make it seem like, and as such it's worth taking a look at what they can do for a business. You might be surprised at the positive impact they can have on your bottom line.
With that in mind, here are the top ways that a private investigator can help your company.
Any company will face challenges, and the key to success is obvious – keep your bottom line in the black. Bringing income into the business is important, but so is reducing the overall costs that your company incurs regularly.
There are a lot of different things to consider in terms of reducing costs, and it's common for some areas to be overlooked completely. Insurance fraud and worker's compensation investigations, in particular, need to be addressed, and while it may not seem like your company needs them, the opposite could be true.
Most business leaders, understandably, focus their effort and attention on the day to day operations of managing their business and providing for their clients or customers. As a result, they are often unaware of, or not prepared to deal with, the significant risks they face from potential employee misconduct or criminal acts. In order to protect themselves, their businesses, and their customers, it is vitally important for any business owner to understand the various risks that employees could bring to the workplace and how to mitigate them.
Consider just some of the ways that employee activity could negatively impact your business:
- Workplace violence
- Embezzlement/theft in the workplace
- Fraud
- Negligent hiring liability
- Sexual misconduct
- Theft of trade secrets, proprietary information, or client confidential information
- Harm to reputation
In other words, your employees can have much more of an impact on your business' bottom line and on the safety of your workers than you realize. In order to get this issue under control, there are several steps you should consider taking. These include the following.
- Start by educating yourself. Spend time learning about the possible risks your business may face, how it impacts your business, and what warning signs might exist that show the issue is present in your business. The same risk factors do not apply to every business!
- Inform others in the workplace. Often, criminal issues are identified by coworkers and reported to management. The fact is that employee criminal activity can lead to a negative workplace environment for everyone, and many team members will be on the lookout for these issues, too.
- Turn to the experts. By retaining professional investigators, particularly those with experience conducting background and due diligence investigations, you can greatly reduce the risks associated with any potential or current employee. You can use private investigators to help with employee screening during the hiring process as well as to run internal investigations into any potential issues within your business.
- Use the right tools. There are numerous tools that can help mitigate the risk of potentially harmful employee activity. These range from automated payroll and financial systems to security cameras to internal computer network monitoring systems. By using the tools available you'll give yourself and your employees a safer work environment.
The key here is to be vigilant. By knowing what to look for and understanding what steps to take to correct any issues, you'll be able to start working towards a safer and more productive workplace.
Not all employees are honest, trustworthy people. Case in point: A recent report published at usatoday.com by Kevin McCoy about an Ex-JPMorgan adviser who has been charged with fraud for allegedly stealing $20 million from customers.
Michael Oppenheim, 48, took money from at least seven bank clients in a fraud scheme he operated from March 2011 to March 2015, federal prosecutors alleged.
He was arrested Thursday at his Livingston, N.J., home and brought to Manhattan federal court for an initial hearing, authorities said.
Oppenheim worked as a JPMorgan investment adviser from February 2002 through last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a civil complaint. He advised approximately 500 clients who collectively kept roughly $89 million in assets under his management, according to a criminal complaint filed by Manhattan federal prosecutors.
Read the entire article here...
At Radius Investigations we always stress how important it is for businesses to conduct a thorough background check on all prospective employees. As a business owner you want to limit the likelihood that one of your employees will commit a crime against the business, other employees, your customers, etc. Proper employee background screening may also have the effect of limiting your liability against a claim of negligent hiring should one of your employees turn out to be a crook.
For more information about our employment background screening services, call us today 1-888-698-0077