We know how the recent days of social distancing has been effecting everyone in the world. COVID-19 has effected background checks as well. Even though background checks are mostly conducted online but there are activities that has to be run for completing background checks which can’t be done online. These activities have been put on hold since March and in some countries since January. As we have reached almost mid of 2020, background checks that has been delayed or in pending status are on the rise.
Background verification is the process of verifying the background details of a person for various purposes which includes employee background screening, police verification, tenant verification etc. Mostly background verification is utilized by employers for recruiting candidates with a clean background for safety and security reasons. There are many background screening companies who provide these background checks for employees.
An employment background check company runs various types of verification like ID authentication, reference check, address verification, education verification, employment verification, criminal record check, drug testing etc. These checks are conducted as requested by the employers and can help them in hiring eligible candidates and filtering fake ones or criminals. As more and more employers are making background checks mandatory, it is important to outsource verification procedures to the right pre employment screening company, who uses the most appropriate technology providing accurate services.
Now with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, this decision making of employers choosing the perfect pre employment screening companies has become vital in recruitment process and job offer completions. Not all companies have the required technology to complete background checks online and hence these companies are lagging behind in the difficult time. But companies who have concentrated on possessing the best technology are successfully completing background checks without much disruption but facing delays whereas the before mentioned companies are facing significant delays or major disruption in business. Significant delay in employee background checks can lead to delay in candidates being hired. Even though hiring can be put on hold till successful background verification completion, there is a limit to delaying potential hires.
In necessary cases where the potential hire has to begin work without completing background checks, self-declaratory information only is taken into account by employers. Employees are asked to fill a self-disclosure form and the employer make an assessment based on the disclosure form alone, or later use it to compare it with information in the background check when it is eventually performed. If the results of the self-disclosed information are satisfactory, then the employers proceed with the person beginning to work. However, employers should make sure that this does not conflict with any ban-the-box laws, some of which prohibit employers from asking applicants to disclose criminal background information at various points of the application process.
These necessary measures might be a relief for some candidates. But still many job offers are on hold during this crisis and many employers have postponed the joining dates of new hires. People who were expecting to start working are facing a major setback and of course only time will tell whether the employers will be able to promise their offers after sorting out all the odds.