Glossary of Human Resources Management and Employee Benefit Terms
Employee background verification is a process which allows to certify the authenticity of the information provided by the candidate. The process aims to mitigate the risk and ensure the safety of the workplace.
Background verification for employees is a process to carry out in order to verify information provided by the candidates during the hiring process. This involves various candidate’s work history and experiences, responsibilities, education qualifications, certifications, resume checks and permanent address verification.
HR ask for background verification from the new hires as follows:
1. Candidate’s history: Candidates are asked for the confirmed dates of employment, candidates job responsibilities and resigned from the position voluntarily or involuntarily.
2. Education qualification: The candidate's education qualification, the courses and the degree that the candidate obtained, if there were any issues during the candidate’s time at the institution.
3. Reference check: The authenticity and personal demeanor of the candidate through the people they have worked with, which includes asking for the nature of the candidate's work and their performances.
4. Character and professionalism: The communication and team spirit skills are verified, which also includes reliability, punctuality in the work and uphold professional standards and ethics.
5. Criminal record check: This is done to ensure that the candidate’s admission does not tarnish the reputation of the company, which includes issues related to theft or fraud, any other additional information about any crime committed.
Here are some key purpose to conduct employee background verification:
1. Validating candidate information: Verification allows the employee to validate the accuracy of information provided by the candidate during the hiring process, which certainly includes all the details related to the education, work history and certifications.
2. Mitigating financial risk: Background verification helps employers mitigate potential legal and financial risks associated with negligent hiring.
3. Workplace safety: Background check allows to ensure workplace safety by checking criminal records and other relevant screenings to identify potential risks.
4. Protecting company’s reputation: Background checks helps employers maintain the reputation of the company by ensuring that trustworthy individuals are hired.
If employee background verification fails, the consequences are potentially negative and may also be denied for the opportunity. Some specific actions may be taken by the employers in such a situation which may vary from different organizations.
Possible actions that may be taken are:
Here is a general format of employee background verification:
1. Obtain written consent: Before conducting background check, it is necessary to obtain written consent by the candidate, which ensures compliance with privacy and make clear to the candidate that background check is a part of the hiring process.
2. Information collection: Relevant information about the candidate, such as resume, certification, references and other documents are collected to conduct the background check.
3. Verification check: Verification check includes employee history verification, reference check, educational qualification verification and criminal records if any are verified before hiring any candidate.
4. Review and analysis: HR reviews and analyzes the documents and conducts further investigation if any discrepancies are identified.
5. Decision- making process: Based on the outcomes of the background check, the employer makes decisions regarding the job role and responsibilities.
6. Communication: HR communicates the decision to the candidate after the background verification is done and if any discrepancies are identified the candidate is given a chance to respond and clarify.
Yes, salary slip is checked in the background verification process, the reasons to verify the candidate salary history for various reasons such as:
These are short surveys that can be sent frequently to check what your employees think about an issue quickly. The survey comprises fewer questions (not more than 10) to get the information quickly. These can be administered at regular intervals (monthly/weekly/quarterly).
Having periodic, hour-long meetings for an informal chat with every team member is an excellent way to get a true sense of what’s happening with them. Since it is a safe and private conversation, it helps you get better details about an issue.
eNPS (employee Net Promoter score) is one of the simplest yet effective ways to assess your employee's opinion of your company. It includes one intriguing question that gauges loyalty. An example of eNPS questions include: How likely are you to recommend our company to others? Employees respond to the eNPS survey on a scale of 1-10, where 10 denotes they are ‘highly likely’ to recommend the company and 1 signifies they are ‘highly unlikely’ to recommend it.
The Universal Account Number (UAN) is a part of the background verification process, most importantly when the specific checks related to provident funds.