Background checks have been around for years. However, as many people realize, the internet is making it much easier for one to a lot about a person of your concern at the click of a button; from criminal history and public records to finding people and their arrest records.
In the past, it was a bit harder, and the background checks reports were shallower, as most of the background checks were done manually. This was as a result of the internet being not much popular. However, in the recent past, the background screening process has been made easier, thanks to the public records and databases being made available online, as well as the many avenues that individuals fills in their details online.
Besides these obvious changes, background checks have had several changes in the last few years. This piece of writing will look into the background screening trends for 2016.
1. Increased Regulatory Scrutiny
Over the last few years, regulators at federal, state, and municipal level have moved to pass and implement new laws and rules to govern background checks. The authorities are passing more and more regulations to safeguard the privacy of individuals. The trend is set to continue in 2016.
2. More Emphasis On Compliance
The corporate world has responded to the rising threat of litigation and added regulation by boosting their compliance, which acts both as a means of preventing lawsuits and shielding against them. The need to guard against poor background checks and inaccurate data is pushing business and individuals away from conducting their internal background screening.
Although viewed as a means of saving costs, internal background screening (in-house background screening) is increasingly viewed as an accountability risk, since unintended violations of either FCRA or state regulations can result in expensive lawsuits and substantial fines. By outsourcing background checks to professional or registered vendors, individuals and business help protects themselves from costly fines and litigation, avoid training expenses and additional technology, save time, and benefit from best practices and guidance for firms that have specialized in the background screening field.
3. Re-screening Of Individual Already Screened
Even as background checks are becoming a standard exercise for new hires, a growing number of businesses and individuals are looking to make the background screening a continual process; this means periodic re-checks of already screened individuals. Periodic screening of a workforce or individuals of concern can identify people who have committed offenses since the last screening process. It can also uncover information that had been overlooked or wasn’t available in the previous screening exercises.
Re-screening can also expose gaps in the previous screening process as well. There has been an increase in the number of business and individuals who are making re-screening a continual practice.
4. More Interest In Social Sites
Social media has become an integral part of the everyday life of many Americans. It has become not only a marketing avenue for many businesses, but also a source of information for business and individuals- regarding their customers and employees. Many organizations and business are using online searches or social media when screening individuals with many rejecting a candidate for employment or certain process and fields based on the information found through an online search or on social media.
However, social media raises pressing issues for individuals that should never be used when making hiring decisions or other professional decisions, as it exposes an individual or company to discrimination litigation. Several states have enacted laws limiting the extent to which background screening company is allowed to search social media.
5. Increased Vendor Screening
There has been an emerging trend of outsourcing many services by companies and businesses. While a business or company may be confident to carry out a comprehensive in-house background screening on its workforce, they now opt to outsource the process of background screening to professionals or qualified vendors so as to transfer litigation risks and also for the purposes of complying with the FCRA current practices and regulations.
If an individual or business carries its in-house background screening and some irregularities occur, the business will be liable for any risk that might arise out of this ignorance. However, if they had outsourced the screening process to a legal background check company or agency, the risk will be transferred to the company that carried out the background screening process.
The background screening process has evolved and undergone several changes thanks to technological advancement and change of the way of life. Increased use of social media and easy access to public and criminal records has enabled deeper and much comprehensive background checks.
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About the author:
Pamela Barie is an author for online background check company CheckThem.com. With a strong focus on delivering accurate, in-depth information, they rely on cutting-edge systems and more than a dozen database sources.
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