How Background and Reference Checks Can Help Your Business

The current economy combined with an unstable workforce with thousands of job seekers calls for strong protective measures. New Mexico business insurance is one of the most important ways to protect your operation, but prevention is the best defense, so preventing claims from happening should be your first priority, and you can already start this during the hiring process.

Find the best employees by adding to the pre-employment process to ensure complete adherence to state and federal employment laws and regulations. Federal regulations mandate legal qualifications for hiring those who may have a criminal offense in their past.

There is enough to worry about when you own a business, so reduce the risks by performing background checks and contacting references. Here are our recommendations to help you ensure that your business is only bringing on the most qualified and reputable new members.

Background Checks

There are a few red flags you should be keeping a lookout for during the hiring process. These are substance abuse, criminal history, and the verification of their identity and history.

1. Request a drug test before employment (or upon conditional offer) to help clarify if a potential employee is worth your time.
2. Pre-employment criminal background investigations are routine and very common for great reason. Never overlook their importance. This precaution will normally include any county, state and federal record checks in every place of residence throughout the past seven years.
3. Confirm Social Security number verification of the potential candidate.  This will ensure the individual is who they say they are.  Take advantage of services such as E-verify, which is an online government-approved method for identity verification.
4. A commonly underrated precaution is preforming a sex offender check. This is a fairly inexpensive, yet highly impactful component to the pre-employment process.  This check could truly save a company from becoming saturated with liability, and could even prevent heavy negative publicity.

Every business can reduce their exposure to liability and benefit from understanding the disasters that come with negligence and gross negligence within the hiring procedure.

Negligence is the failure to exercise reasonable care, while gross negligence is consciously and voluntary disregarding reasonable care, which is likely to cause harm that could have otherwise been prevented.

Reference Checks

As mentioned above, you want to make sure that your potential employees are who they say they are and have the experience that they claim. This is why reference checks are beneficial.

Verify previous employment by contacting past employers, retrieving any information about your possible future employee that they will provide. Nowadays fear of employment-related lawsuits are common, so many employers will only provide the start and end dates of employment, the employees’ previous job title, and eligibility to be rehired. Therefore, you may not be able to get the entire picture of an employee candidate’s work history.

It can also be helpful to ask for internship and volunteer references. You will need to use your best judgment of the reference contacts provided. Credibility is extremely important when it comes to deciphering what references are actually relevant to the candidate’s qualifications.

Keep in mind that you don’t want to create liabilities for your business during this process. Do not contact unlisted references. During your reference checks, someone might refer you to someone else for more information about the candidate’s performance, or you could happen to meet someone who knows them. If you are planning to ask these individuals for information, make sure you inform the candidate first and ask for their consent.

About Daniels Insurance, Inc.

At Daniels Insurance, Inc., we have a unique understanding of the risks that businesses like yours face on a regular basis. With the backing of our comprehensive coverages and our dedication to customer service and quick claims resolution, your business will be fully protected. For more information, contact us today at (855) 565-7616.