2020 has just begun, and it is already bringing employers new sets of employment screening rules and challenges. From ban-the-box to marijuana-hiring laws, many of these employment screening trends bring to light the importance of employment background checks.
1. FCRA claims rising
Employers are faced with the fact that even accidental omissions and honest mistakes can end up costing them millions. Over the past decade, companies have paid out over $174 million, not small change for the small businesses often hit with these lawsuits.
2. Ban-the-box
Now 35 states and 150 plus jurisdictions have passed ban-the-box legislation. These laws prevent companies from automatically excluding people who have a felony record. The intention is to allow more people who’ve committed felonies to re-integrate into law-abiding society.
However noble the intention might be, these employment screening trends do not eliminate the risks of hiring people with certain types of felonies for various job descriptions.
3. Better contract employee background screening
Companies like Uber have been in the news lately regarding these employment screening practices. Contract drivers have allegedly committed various assaults and other reckless behavior. This leads to a call for companies who hire contract employees to take more responsibility in the hiring process.
4. Marijuana-hiring laws
Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia have now passed laws allowing some forms of use within their jurisdiction. Marijuana legalization not only increases the chance that potential employees may be using marijuana; it changes the dynamic. Upstanding and responsible citizens may choose to partake on occasion. Laws and employment screening trends are changing to recognize this fact.
5. Hiring A.I. built-in bias
As companies expand their use of artificial intelligence to streamline and improve hiring, the employment industry is faced with a bitter truth. Even advanced machine learning software can develop biases if the data to which they are exposed is itself biased.
Software developers and companies must actively ensure that such an occurrence does not reinforce institutional inequalities that people today are working to eradicate.
6. Social media background screening brought into question
Social media screening has added a level of transparency to the hiring process that companies did not have before, but it also brings new challenges to the hiring process. Should candidates without social media be excluded? Should it be considered before or after a formal background check?
Recruiters are pondering these employment screening trends and other questions.
Keeping up with employment screening trends
Hiring will always be a risky activity. A bad hire costs a lot in terms of lost productivity and damaged company culture. However employment screening trends change, professional background screening is always a smart move to minimize hiring risks.
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