Employment Background Checks

HR leaders are very familiar with company audits, risk assessments, and gap analyses for skills, talent, and hiring needs. However, you don’t always take the time to audit your own department, identify potential risks and opportunities to strengthen resources, and ensure compliance best practices.

The areas within HR that create the greatest risk are likely the same areas on which you and your team expend the greatest amount of time and energy, such as: 

According to the SentencingProject.org, nearly one in three adults in the U.S.—or 70 million Americans—have a criminal record, including those who were arrested but not convicted. For many of these individuals, a criminal record creates a significant barrier to employment, even when the record includes only a misdemeanor arrest or conviction.

Background screening is vital for meeting regulatory and accreditation standards in healthcare, but because background checks are triggered at the time of offer, they are largely considered a necessary evil of the pre-employment process. Once an employer decides to hire an individual, they have been through requisition creation, multiple interviews, and even pre-hire assessments, all before an offer is made. This puts tremendous pressure on the background screening partner and the entire onboarding process to ensure that the new hire is making it into the earliest orientation possible.

Changes in background screening legislation are occurring at state and local levels across the U.S. This complex patchwork of regulations creates a complicated landscape for enterprise organizations operating across multiple states and municipalities. Local legislative changes can develop rapidly, so employers must be alert to remain compliant.

There’s been a renewed imperative in human resources to create a culture of safety and belonging at work. Part of delivering on that imperative is conducting background checks on your new hires. A 2020 joint survey between HR.com and the Professional Background Screening Association (formerly the National Association of Professional Background Screeners) revealed that 94% of respondents perform at least one type of employment screening.

On a federal level, legislation intended to ban the question about criminal records on all job applications was introduced in Congress in 2012 and was tabled, but with no vote taken. While the U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) designated exclusion of a criminal record box as a best practice for equitable hiring.

Hospitals and other healthcare organizations are increasingly focused on improving the quality of patient care. This is driven partly by the move to value-based reimbursement models, competition among healthcare companies, and the more recent COVID-19 public health emergency, which put a spotlight on healthcare’s strengths and weaknesses.

With more attention than ever placed on the quality of care, what can healthcare organizations do to improve? Here are a few ideas you should consider.

On February 10^th, the California Attorney General’s Office published revised proposed regulations to implement the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).  The revised proposed regulations make a number of changes to the proposed regulations initially published by the Attorney General’s

The global Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has created an unprecedented situation impacting nearly every industry, and the world we live in today is very different from what it was just a few months ago. Not only has the workplace changed rapidly overnight, but this viral event has affected nearly every facet of life. While organizations have already been managing teams working in different offices and locations, working from home has now become a reality for many businesses.

Healthcare providers, organizations, and facilities may find it challenging to meet patients’ changing expectations. However, they should not ignore the enormous influence that expectations can have on the patient experience.

Research has suggested that patient expectations can influence their satisfaction with their care and their perceptions of their own health. The more that healthcare providers and organizations can address patient expectations, the more likely they are to earn and keep their patients’ trust.