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Cut Background Check Costs – Not Quality
As the New Year begins, we at KRESS hear the calls to lower costs and increase quality. To this end, KRESS has a resolution for
2009. We will continue to provide clients with in-depth due diligence as well as numerous ways to reduce the cost
of the background checks. Here are three simple ideas that may help.
- Document Verification
Verifying three important items -- the social security number, name and date of birth -- is an essential part of any good background check. KRESS suggests the use of our new CBSV (Consent Based Social Security Verification) Service. This is a pre-employment verification of the applicant’s name, date of birth and social security number with the Social Security Administration. With this as a first step, any applicant who is providing erroneous information can be eliminated from further background check processes and thereby, save any costs associated with further background checks, drug tests and other pre-employment processes.
The CBSV Service is only $3.
- Gated Processes
Using the CBSV Service as a pre-screen is just one of many ways to weed out applicants who may have information that would preclude them from employment with your organization. Pre-screening is in reality a gated process. What does that mean? It means that each successive screen, search or request raises the “bar” a bit. Examples include employers that require driving histories (MVR’s) as part of the background check. If an employer pulls the MVR first, then runs the standard criminal searches there’s a good chance of reducing the total cost of background checks. KRESS can help you develop a gated process.
- Calculate Real Costs vs. Potential Losses
There’s an old adage, “When the economy slows, increase your marketing to maintain the same revenue.” The
same concept applies in risk management strategies. Don’t stop running quality background checks because budgets
tighten. When your organization hires fewer people and the over-all business climate slows, poor hiring decisions
are magnified many times over. As an HR professional, you have to be able to justify the expense by expressing
potential losses against the real costs of the background checks. If you’re a retailer, what was your shrinkage
last year? How much would you be willing to let that increase this year so that you could save a few dollars on
background checks? This process is the definition of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Background checks are the
cheapest form of insurance that an employer can buy. They reduce costs on the front-end by removing undesirable
individuals from the pool of applicants. And background checks offer liability transfer in a worst case scenario.
If it costs a dollar and takes five seconds, that’s the amount of liability transfer that you will receive in
these cases.
Databases:
The Fool's Gold of Background Checks
The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has a pretty website. It's very user-friendly, has nice colors and is laid out in
professional manner. Thousands of employers routinely check their applicants and employee's using the DPS system.
There's one problem though. The system is outrageously out of date and in some cases missing more than 30% of the
conviction data. In November the Fort Worth Star Telegram reported, "More than a third of criminal records are
missing from the online Department of Public Safety database available to the public."
Why does this problem exist? The same article reported, "Problems exist because of human error and because of
spotty reporting from law enforcement agencies, courts and district attorneys that provide information." It went
on to state, "Even records of Death Row inmates are missing from the public database ..."
The amount of data missing is staggering. The same Star Telegram article reported, "Tela Mange, a DPS spokeswoman,
said such problems aren't new. Some counties report as little as 17 percent of convictions to DPS." In 2006
state agencies reported almost 750,000 cases to the DPS. That comprised only 69% of all the reportable information
for that year. Ms. Mange stated, "It's been going on for a number of years…There's nothing we can do to force them
to fix that problem."
Texas DPS system is considered one of the nations best public
access systems. If they're this bad, imagine what other state
systems are missing.
| County |
No
of Cases
Studied |
%
of Records
Missing |
| Harris |
125 |
16 |
| Dallas |
67 |
58.2 |
| Tarrant |
62 |
43.5 |
| Bexar |
35 |
48.6 |
| Collin |
16 |
37.5 |
| El
Paso |
11 |
36.4 |
| Hidalgo |
11 |
54.5 |
| Travis |
10 |
50 |
| Denton |
10 |
70 |
| Ft. Bend |
4 |
0 |
Source:Fort Worth Star Telegram
Sincerely,
Jeff Rackler, CEO
KRESS Employment Screening
jrackler@kressinc.com
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KRESS Announces Multiple New Services
Just in time for the New Year, KRESS has launched a host of new services:
- CDLIS (Commercial Drivers License Information System Search)
- CBSV Social Security Number Verification
- DOT Employment Verification
- National Practitioner Data Bank-Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank (NPDB-HIPDB)
- Drug Testing
To learn more about each of these services, visit the KRESS website at: http://kressinc.com/pre_employment_screening.html
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Is it Time for Teachers to be Drug Tested?
The alarming number of Houston Independent School District (HISD) employees arrested on drug charges recently has prompted many to call for HISD to revisit its drug testing policy. While the federal government does require pre-employment screening for bus drivers, such is not the case for teachers and employees. Some districts, including HISD, can use drug testing for teachers and employees suspected of drug use, but the state does not mandate testing be done before hiring.
"School teachers — next to parents, and in some cases, above parents — are the strongest role model in a child's life," said Calvina Fay, executive director of the Drug Free America Foundation. "If there's ever an employee that we should be looking that they're drug free, it should be teachers."
Read More: chron.com
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