As a background checking service, we like to extol the virtues of background checks in weeding out prospective problems in the workplace. We write often about checking out criminal records, sexual offenses, criminal theft, and other indicators that someone may not be your ideal candidate.
But we always add that the background check is as good as the agency conducting the searches. Shoddy research, like other examples of shoddy workmanship, will produce sometimes sad and disturbing results. In this case as the Associated Press reports, an Ohio gunman further defined violence in the workplace by shooting two of his supervisors. The gunman complained he was being treated unfairly.
The gunman had lied on on his application, claiming he had no past criminal records. In fact, he had a past criminal record for receiving stolen property. For that he did five years in prison.
Largely, most background checking services and their researchers do a decent job. Some missing records are due to errors on the part of counties or the agencies that report criminal records. but many are on the part of the researchers. Simply put, sometimes they miss searches. Sometimes they fail to read the entire record or to search for probable permutations of the name. Or to report back that they have name only matches, should they send them anyway or just discard those criminal records that fail to provide other identifiers.
The idea is to be thorough. The idea is to think. Sometimes there will be mistakes. But often the mistakes are avoidable when the background checking agency makes it clear to its researchers how to search and what to pull if there is any doubt that the employment candidate has criminal records. And, if the employer suspects the job applicant may have criminal records, it is incumbent upon the background checking service to assure the researcher is being thorough, is checking every possibility.
It will never fully eliminate workplace violence, but it will help reduce it by filtering out those who may cause harm to fellow employees and others around them.
Check them out before you hire.
