Why are pre-employment background checks important?

In an era where you can be fingerprinted simply to enter your local gym, your eyes may be scanned as you pass through an airport or you are being watched by CCTV almost every minute of everyday, you may wonder what is this obsession with removing any privacy from people’s lives? Many are inclined to agree with this – why do “they” want to know everything about us? Where we come from, where we live, what we do in our free time and where we are at this very moment? It is very easy to jump on this bandwagon, crying out for freedom and our right to privacy but, as you will understand should you delve a little deeper, these restrictions are placed upon us for our own safety. So pre-employment background checks – how do they ensure our safety? Why are they important? Well…let me try to answer such questions with the three most emphatic reasons. Employers are not checking up on you simply for a powertrip. Nor are they doing this merely to emphasize who’s in charge. These background checks are to protect the company, the employer and other employees safety and well-being. If you have nothing to hide, invasion of privacy shouldn’t really be an issue for you; this is never more true than for a pre-employment background check. First and foremost, these checks are carried out to uncover any false or misleading information given by the applicant – estimated at 30 – 40% of all information given in the application process. Secondly, this is often a legal requirement. If a job applicant will be working with children, the elderly, disabled or in government roles, the employer needs to know that possible employees have no history which could pose a risk to others. There are many examples of when, had the right background checking procedures been followed, lives could have been saved. My third reason is to prevent negligent hiring lawsuits. In contemporary times, society feels the need to place blame and find responsibility in any and every situation. Should someone be hired, unchecked, but with a history of violence; and that individual goes on to be violent towards another employee, blame will lie squarely with the employer. Can any of these be argued against? Is it really plausible to dismiss people’s safety in return for a little more privacy? Perhaps…but only until you are the one no longer safe. It is the duty of everyone to ensure the safety of each other and, if that means you must give away a little slice of your own privacy, then so be it.]]>