Employment Screening: A look back at 2012
As we come to the end of another year, there is a lot to remind ourselves of – both for Mind Your Business, Inc. and for the employment screening industry as a whole.
With 2012 being an election year, there have been a lot of political issues that have affected the industry, while several tragic incidents have highlighted how important it is to protect the most vulnerable members of society.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the key points in 2012 for MYB, employment and background screening:
Industry trends
Welfare drug testing has once again been a hot topic of debate with legislation introduced in several states, while others removed welfare drug testing programs that they felt had not succeeded.
We saw huge increases in gun background checks and firearm sales following the mass-murder tragedies we’ve experienced in this country during 2012. More and more people believe the only form of protection for their families is to arm themselves, and we saw Black Friday gun sales hit an all time record high this year with demand for new firearms so overwhelming that it caused outages at the FBI background check center on two separate occasions.
Employment screening saw an increase as America went back to work, with the unemployment rate dropping to 7.70 percent in November. This is the lowest we have seen since December 2008.
A final deserving mention is the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) establishing a framework to achieve the EEOC’s mission to “stop and remedy unlawful employment discrimination.”
Mind Your Business, Inc.
We have again attended numerous events and received recognition for the efforts of our team in the employment screening industry, such as the 2012 Blue Ridge Business Growth Awards and our CEO Karen Caruso speaking at Spark & Hustle in Raleigh, NC.
It’s always an honor to be recognized as a contributor in the industry, and we feel privileged to be a part of such an important and necessary support system for improving society. Our influence in the North Carolina background screening space remains stronger than ever, and we can’t wait to hit the ground running in 2013!
Our work in the community included sponsoring and attending ‘Queen for a Day’ at the Hendersonville Boys and Girls Club, as well as participating in Asheville ‘Relay for Life’ and Earth Day 2012. These were so fun to participate in and it means so much to us that we’re able to give back to our community in such meaningful ways.
Most popular blog posts
We’ve also seen some big successes with our blog this year, driving more visitors and sales, and providing more industry resources, than ever before.
Our different types of background checks article continues to bring new visitors to our website on a regular basis, and does a great job highlighting to both employers and job applicants the different types of background checks that are commonly used in employment verification.
We also revealed the high costs involved for employers when they make bad hires, with an employer’s average cost of a second-level manager bad hire potentially reaching $840,000. The article also points out how you can avoid making bad hires, and avoid these dramatic costs, in the future.
Another post that has received a lot of attention this year was our article on why drug testing in the workplace is important. The fact that alcoholism costs 500 million lost work days each year, while alcohol and drug abuse cost the economy hundreds of millions of dollars a year is surely enough to catch any employer’s attention.
Overall, 2012 has had it’s ups and downs – as is the case of every year. At MYB we like to focus on the positive – of which there has been plenty. We can’t wait to get started in 2013, and look forward to working with current and new customers as the new year rolls in.
Wishing you all the best, and a prosperous 2013!
