Continuous Screening

What is Continuous Screening?

Continuous Screening is the process of conducting background checks including monitoring of criminal and other important records on current employees on an on-going basis to stay informed about life changes or behaviors that could increase risk for your organization.

Continuous Screening Providers

A Guide for Employers to Implement a Continuous Screening Program

A Guide for Human Resources and Hiring Managers

What's inside?

What is Continuous Screening and how it differs for Continuous Monitoring.
How to use continuous screening for risk mitigation
Key legal and compliance issues
How to effectively address employee rights and privacy issues
Important implementation considerations organizations must consider
Key background screening policy issues
What to do when derogatory information is discovered.

A Guide for Employers to Implement a Continuous Screening Program

A Guide for Human Resources and Hiring Managers

What's inside?

What is Continuous Screening and how it differs for Continuous Monitoring.
How to use continuous screening for risk mitigation
Key legal and compliance issues
How to effectively address employee rights and privacy issues
Important implementation considerations organizations must consider
Key background screening policy issues
What to do when derogatory information is discovered.

Do Background Checks Before and After Hiring

There are inherent risks associated with hiring people, and the challenge for managers is to close the window of vulnerability to mitigating risk as much as possible.

Hiring New Employees

Pre-employment background screening is all about preventing hiring bad applicants. And, equally or perhaps more important is to identify misconduct by current employees. Consequently, pre-hire screening is only the first step and it needs to be coupled the process of screening employees on an on-going basis, or what is called “Continuous Screening.”

Enabling Continuous Monitoring

Because of advances in technology, we’re now able to conduct continuous monitoring of arrests, bookings, and convictions. Along with criminal activity, real time monitoring of motor vehicle driving records and other credentials are available to make better decisions that mitigate risks associated with promotions, transfers, and project assignments.

Having current information on employees’ professional licenses, certifications, driving records, criminal convictions, and immigration status helps a firm know whether employees continue to qualify for the position they hold or potential new assignments. Identifying employee misconduct early is an important tool that every business needs to mitigate risk and help reduce the likelihood of negligent lawsuits.

The Risks & Threats

Some of these risk and threats include:

Learn more about Continuous Screening

Learn how Continuous Screening helps to provide you with valuable information that positions you to be able to make the best possible decisions about employment actions that could mitigate risk to your organization

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Learn the primary reasons why more employers are implementing Continuous Screening Programs so that they can make better decisions about managing employee risks.

AVOID NEGLIGENT HIRING

From a Human Resources Perspective

Redefining Screening

Continuous screening redefines the screening paradigm beyond just pre-employment to on-going screening over the full life cycle of employment. This presents businesses with the opportunity to better manage the risk associated with employees. Too often managers incorrectly presume that because the person starts a job with a clean criminal, credit, or driving record that this means the person’s record will remain this way.

Employees can change

Many firms have learned the hard way that sometimes, down the line, this employee who started with a clean record turns in a different direction. Recurring background checks are the only way an employer can know of changes in employee’s status and behaviors that may have a negative impact on the company. Some companies have relied on voluntary reporting, but this has not worked for obvious reasons.

Preventing Workplace Violence

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that over two million incidents of workplace violence occur annually:

Homicides in workplace continues to be the third leading cause of death at work.
For women, workplace violence is the second leading cause of death while working.
It is estimated that 30,000 rape or sexual assaults occur to women at work each year.
Healthcare and social services workers are about four times more likely to experience violence in the workplace than other occupations.

REDUCE WORKPLACE VIOLENCE & THEFT

From a Legal Perspective

Management’s Fiduciary Responsibility

Managers have a fiduciary responsibility to manage and protect their organization, and not expose their company to liabilities. It is management’s responsibility to ensure that the company implements an effective and ongoing process to identify, define the potential impact, and then initiate the necessary steps to proactively manage these risks.

Reducing Risk

To implement a continuous screening program requires considerable planning and forethought because the rules for screening employees are different from those for screening applicants. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) still applies. Remember that preemployment screening reduces the risk of making a bad hiring decision from the start, while post-employment screening reduces the risk a company is exposed to over the entire employment life cycle.

Negligent Hiring Lawsuits

According to a report on Negligent Hiring employers usually lose (approx. 75% of the time) in negligent hiring cases, with the average settlement of $1 million.

• An example of negligent hiring in an Illinois state appellate court case where the jury awarded more than $54 million in a personal injury lawsuit against a trucking company for the negligent hiring and retention of a trucker that had a “disturbing” driving record and was involved in an accident while on the job.

IDENTITY FRAUD & REPUTATION

From a Security Perspective

Fraud

Occupational fraud is committed any time an employee inappropriately—or illegally—uses an organization’s property, assets, or other resources. According to the 2018 annual report by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), internal fraud “is likely the largest and most prevalent threat” to organizational resources. Theft by employees and other insiders’ costs companies an estimated 5% of their annual revenues—or $4 trillion in total global fraud loss. The U.S. Department of Commerce reported that employee theft is responsible for one-third of all business bankruptcies. What may seem like a small theft can actually add up to much more.

Identity, Property, and Intellectual Theft

In the United States, the average cost of a data breach in the United States in 2020 – $8.64 million, is higher than 2019’s figure, $8.19 million. According to the National Retail Federation $50 billion annually is lost to theft. Shoplifting accounts for most (36.5%) of those losses of which 33.2 % was attributable to internal theft. In 2020, 1.4 million complaints were for identity theft, up from 651,000 in 2019. Identity theft complaints accounted for 29 percent of all complaints received by the FTC in 2020. Organized crime a.k.a. ‘Gigabyte Gangs’ are placing people in jobs that have access to sensitive information for the specific purpose to steal it.

Reputational Risk

Reputational risk is a threat or danger to the good name or standing of a business or entity. Reputational risk can occur in the following ways:

Directly, as the result of the actions of the company itself.
Indirectly, due to the actions of an employee or employees.
Tangentially, through other peripheral parties, such as joint venture partners or suppliers

In addition to having good governance practices and transparency, companies need to be socially responsible and environmentally conscious to avoid or minimize reputational risk.

Continuous Screening

What is Continuous Screening?