While there are very real benefits to background screening involving personal safety and company reputation, the truth is a business owner likes to know that the expense of background checks pays off in dollars and cents. Our experience has shown us that the return on investment (ROI) for the screening process is huge. In fact, you can weigh the cost of screening a new employee against every single potential downside expense and realize a profit in the balance. Consider the potential cost of:

• Discrimination lawsuits
• Workplace violence
• Employee theft
• Company scandal
• Training costs of bad hires
• Lost production
• Identity theft
• Intellectual property theft

A single incident in either of these categories can be damaging to a business. While background screenings are a real expense, their cost pales to the potential loss from any one of these dangers.

We know the challenges facing every business and organization. We work to keep your screening costs down by using our own proprietary Web-based search interface and training you or your representative to perform the searches. While we can do the searches ourselves and are always available for questions and assistance, having your own access to the search site saves you time and money.

We have also ensured that the quality of the results is exceptionally high. The searches are comprehensive and intelligently designed, and each negative result is researched and confirmed by a trained investigator.

Our customized search packages can be modified and fine-tuned to serve your needs — growing and adapting as your company grows.

1. Third-Party background checks are costly. Background checks access vast databases in thousands of different locations. Large screening companies charge top dollar to perform their searches, but we train you and allow you to access our Web-based search interface directly, saving you time and money. And we are always available for any assistance you may need, should the occasion arise.
2. Résumé fraud drains your resources. Over half of applicants put false information on their résumés. Discovering this early allows you to terminate the application process before you incur additional expense and wasted time.
3. Employee theft endangers your company. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that employee theft costs American companies nearly $40 billion per year. Because an employee has greater access to your resources, they are 15 times more likely than a non-employee to steal from you. This loss lessens your competitive edge; it also threatens to put you in the one-third of all business failures that happen due to employee theft.
4. Hidden costs of bad hires can drag your company down. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the cost of a bad hiring decision can exceed 30% of the employee’s potential earnings during their first year. For management candidates, the figure is much higher. If you fail to carefully screen applicants, you may end up with employees who:
   • Are unqualified to perform their work.
   • Exhibit work habits out of line with your company’s standards.
   • Possess attitudes and personalities that create conflict with coworkers and lower morale in the workplace.
   • Have inappropriate expectations which eventually lead to low productivity and great dissatisfaction.

5. Liability issues can threaten you with huge settlement costs. Employers can be sued and held liable if they “fail to use reasonable care in the employment selection process.” If it is determined that you should have known about potential risks an employee posed, you can be held legally liable for their actions and the consequences—to other employees, to customers, to stockholders, and to the general public.

6. Workplace violence is a terrifying reality. A study by the Society of Human Resource Management showed that 57% of companies reported that a violent incident in their workplace over a four-year period. Two million American workers are victimized by workplace violence annually, costing employers $36 billion. The average award in lawsuits resulting from workplace violence is $1 million. What would be the impact of a million-dollar settlement on your business? Our screenings help reduce this threat to your workplace.

7. Compliance issues complicate the screening process. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) sets standards for employment screening and privacy considerations, with substantial penalties for non-compliance. These standards include various disclosures you must make before, during, and after the background check has been performed. Our automated searches adhere strictly to FCRA guidelines and we provide you with checklists of your responsibilities in implementing those searches.

8. Intellectual property theft is a time bomb. Intellectual property theft extends well beyond loss of patents and designs or counterfeiting of products. It also encompasses your marketing strategies and retail plans. Such theft costs American employers billions each year. Careful professional screening can help protect your trade secrets and other proprietary information.

9. Employee access to information increases your vulnerability. The smaller your company, the more responsibility each employee generally has. This may mean access to financial records, banking data, employee files, and customer records. Even small companies can have credit card and identity information on thousands of customers. This makes you vulnerable to identity theft schemes and devastating lawsuits if identity information is compromised by a dishonest employee. Some criminal rings even plant employees to use legitimate businesses as the base for criminal activities.

10. Federal anti-discrimination laws can be used even by unscrupulous applicants. A great fear of many employers is that an applicant who is turned down will sue under anti-discrimination statutes. One of the strongest defenses against such legal action is a consistent standard of background screenings for each position. Our screenings help you attain that. Our search packages are custom-designed to meet the specific needs of different businesses and industry segments. This gives you a head start on designing a package that meets your particular needs. We begin with a package that targets your industry and then adds and subtract search elements until you are happy with the results. Often, clients can use an existing package without any alteration!

 All our packages can be fully customized to meet your screening needs.