Why is Pre-Employment Background Screening Important?

We, at Millow, keep an eye on surveys that advise the importance of pre-employment background screening. As we are on a mission to reform the Background Verification Industry, leveraging most modern technologies in relation to offering risk management & compliance services becomes a norm for us. We value people & enterprises while understanding the significance of pre-employment background screening in every professional establishment.

A 2017 Survey

As per a survey by Kroll Advisory Services in 2017, current & former employees make up the biggest fraudsters in Indian firms. The survey findings got presented in Kroll Advisory Service’s Global Fraud & Risk Report 2016-17. This report analyzed three risk types that include fraud, security, and cybersecurity. Fraudulent risks involve physical stock/assets, and corruption & bribery. Security risk comprises natural disasters and loss of intellectual property. Last but not the least, cyber Security gets threatened by email-based phishing attacks, and virus manifestations. In the survey, nearly 75% – 80% of respondents cited middle-level management, junior & former employees, or freelancers as key fraud-culprits. Recent frauds, by employees, got discovered through the whistle-blowing system.

Recent Examples of Frauds that Got Discovered

In 2021, recently, three employees from Quikr, the famous classified start-up, executed a massive fraud. The company recorded a loss of 20 Crore INR. The way they pulled it off was by creating fictitious clients & scooping out commissions worth such financials from Quikr.

Let’s look into one more example. In 2020, an employee in SBI Samanasa Branch, Amalapuram, Hyderabad allegedly stole gold from the ban to raise a loan of 1.05 Crore INR. The accused created around 20 – 25 gold loan accounts in the name of his relatives & family members and a few other branch employees. The gold was stolen from lockers at the time of settlement of gold loans to genuine customers.

The Necessity of Pre-Employment Background Screening

It is no surprise that hiring a new employee is a big investment for an enterprise/company. Employees are hired in the hope that they’ll be with an organization for quite a long time by continuously delivering great work, which positively impacts/inspires the business. Bad hires do happen from time to time. In the best-case scenario, mistakes are realized quickly with the person moving on without any real harm. Worst cases are where people fail to do their job with lower workplace morale while causing serious problems for the company/enterprise.

To negate these worst-case scenarios, pre-employment background screening gets done before they are made genuine employees. It reveals any & all details the person may have hidden or is being dishonest during the interview process. Ultimately, your company/enterprise gets to invest in honorable people.

What gets covered in a Pre-Employment Background Check?

A standard background check starts with the name, birthday, Social Security Number (SSN) for collecting a variety of information on them from both public as well as private databases. We, Millow, as a respected background checker, can access all relevant sources for generating an easy-to-understand report on the applicant for an employer to view.

A pre-employment background check involves identity verification, criminal history, employment history, education background, government-issued licenses, and motor vehicle records along with a credit check. As is expected, a pre-employment background check ensures the employee-candidate is honest by not having an unscrupulous past. We expand on a standard report by contacting their previous employers & personal references while possibly reviewing the public social media accounts. With the information we gather, as a company/enterprise/organization you’ll have confidence in hiring the apt personality.