Over 85 percent of people have admitted to lying on their resumes, according to experts, and over half of managers are suspicious of their employees, says Glassdoor. These lies are not always big or obvious. It could just be a matter of changing their graduation year or adding in just one more year of experience. However, you could have someone working for you that hasn’t even graduated from high school. Everyone assumes that people have the proper credentials, just because they were told so. And yet, so many people continue to lie and get jobs that are better every time.
This is one of the reasons why many employers and staffing agencies today choose to perform background checks on their candidates before offering them a position. In addition to verifying everything on their resumes, this also allows them to weed out any candidates with a history of unsavory behavior. There are many different types of background check of varying degrees of depth. Some employers may only want to perform a cursory background check weed out dishonest candidates or candidates with a history of violence, while others would like a more thorough investigation. Still, others choose to neglect background checks altogether.
If you don’t perform a background check, or you only perform a cursory check, you’re putting your entire business at risk if some kind of incident regarding crime or money transpires. No one wants to be at fault for that. Here’s why performing a background check is essential for every company, and what it can cost if you don’t.
Small Lies Lead to Big Costs
Maybe they started college in 2017. However, they actually started the next year. That’s just one example of how a white lie can get out of hand fast. Next thing you know, you’ve got four years of experience underneath a shell company that you hardly did work for. It might not seem like it’s harmful in the long run, but it is.
Sure, it’s not malicious intent, considering how so many people are struggling to get the same type of jobs. But lying isn’t going to get anyone anywhere if you want a good, quality employee to stick around for a long time. And if they aren’t the right fit for your company, then you have to let them go and start the onboarding process all over again. The cost of hiring one employee can range from between $1,000 to $5,000. If you hire someone who is not the right fit for your company, then you will need to terminate their employment and undergo the entire process again, making that money spent a complete waste.
Additional Costs
The financial impact is one of the biggest consequences of a bad hire from failing to background check. But there are also other, non-monetary costs:
- Lost Productivity – If your new hire does not have the skills necessary to complete their job, then your productivity will suffer. Their tasks will not be completed, and the company will be left to face the consequences.
- Time – A bad hire is a valuable learning experience, but it’s one that comes at a cost. All of the time that you took recruiting one candidate, onboarding them, and training them could have been spent on another, more honest candidate.
- Harmed Employee Morale – Working with a dishonest candidate can be harmful to other employees’ morale. In addition, the above-mentioned lost productivity could lead to other employees needing to pick up the extra work, which will likely reduce their satisfaction levels.
- Damaged Client Relationships – It is very possible that the wrong hire could affect client satisfaction if they are in a client-facing role. The lost billings from a canceled client could be incredibly high.
About World Wide Specialty Programs
For the last 50 years, World Wide Specialty Programs has dedicated itself to providing the optimal products and solutions for the staffing industry. As the only insurance firm to be an ASA commercial liability partner, we are committed to that partnership and committed to using our knowledge of the industry to provide staffing firms with the best possible coverage. For more information about Staffing Professional Liability Insurance or any other coverage, we have available to protect your staffing business, give us a call at (800) 245-9653 to speak with one of our representatives.