Employment Background Screening - I have never conducted background checks on my employees but so far, I have never had any problems. Is a background check really necessary?

It is quite impressive to hear that you have never had any problems with your employees even if you did not conduct any background checks on them. But you have to know that you were probably just lucky and that sooner or later, this string of luck will have to end and you would also be able to encounter a bad employee who will give you a big headache.

It is not wise to wait until this happens before you start considering doing background checks on your applicants. Imagine the following scenarios:

• You hired someone whom you did not know used drugs. One day, that applicant throws a violent fit and ends up hurting customers and co-workers.
• You hired someone whom you did not know has a physical illness. One day, a customer complains that he caught this sickness from your employee.
• You hired someone whom you did not know have outstanding warrants on theft and fraud. One day, you discover that your employee stole a lot of money from you.

All of these scenarios are possible to happen but you can avoid all these by conducting an employment background screening on your applicants. A background check will provide all the necessary information you need to know about a person’s background such as educational and employment history, criminal records, driving records, credit reports, medical records, incarceration records, Social Security number, former residences, character references, professional licenses, drug testing records, military records and many others. These pieces of information will tell you things that you should know about your applicant but your applicant will never bring up during the interview or will never state in his or her resume.

You may probably have grown complacent because you have never encountered any problems with your employees but you should not wait until your luck runs out before you start considering a background check.