Employment Background Checks

You’ve seen this show before. The Detective walks into the open floor plan office shouting “I need everything you’ve got on [insert name here] NOW!” The Smart Tech Guru types a quick prompt into their computer and within 10 seconds, up on the seven-monitor display, is the entire life of their target neatly laid out. It includes their financial, criminal, and civil history, and maybe even some juicy details about the circumstances surrounding their most recent divorce or what they like to eat for lunch.

How far back should you search criminal backgrounds for your applicants and employees? What are the restrictions in place? Should you search a different length for different job positions? 

Understanding the reporting period of your criminal background checks can be confusing. There is a patchwork of federal and state laws that limit how far back you can search in your background check.

Traditionally, the background check process is performed in tandem with skills assessments and final interviews during the hiring process. However, in 2021, about 19% of organizations conducted post-hire background checks, according to survey data from the Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA). That's up from 12% in 2020.

Millions of Americans have changed or quit their jobs in recent years, leading to a movement now known as the “Great Resignation.” Over 38 million U.S. workers quit their jobs in 2021, and about 20 million quit in the first five months of 2022.

Running an employment background check is an integral part of the hiring process. A quick turnaround time on these checks is vital to a smooth onboarding process for your candidates and your organization.

What can you do to help speed up the time it takes to receive your completed results? And what should you consider if it’s taking longer than you expected?

What affects turnaround time?

When Placing an Order

Missing or incomplete information is the primary cause of a delayed background check when placing the order.

The purpose of employee onboarding should be setting new hires up for success and decreasing the time it takes for them to become comfortable in their new roles and this works best if onboarding processes are designed strategically with the end goal in mind. However, the rise of remote and hybrid work, along with an increase in globally dispersed teams, has complicated the global employee onboarding experience.

With so many employers struggling to hire and keep talented workers, employers might be looking for shortcuts to hire faster. Some employers have lowered job requirements, such as college degrees, and others have walked a risky line by eliminating or postponing background screening and using conditional offers of employment.

As the talent marketplace gets more challenging, employers are expanding into new locations and territories where complexity has increased due to both global expansion and sourcing international talent. With the surge in remote work following a global pandemic, companies are no longer as reliant on work visa programs and immigration laws to fill talent needs.

While employers are evaluating background screening services or making policy decisions about employment background checks, there are multiple references to “seven years.” This can create confusion for employers using background checks in hiring, as not all background checks are created equal. Depending on the context, this common window of time may refer to:

Since the pandemic began, roles have been moved around within healthcare systems to fill urgent needs. Clinicians have been overworked and fatigued, and all of this disruption has affected patient safety outcomes. Preventable central-line associated bloodstream infections, for example, have risen 51% compared to pre-pandemic rates.