Pre Employment Screening Can Help Prevent Dealing with Disgruntled Employees

Offices often have to deal with disgruntled employees or employees who are living a double life. Unfortunately, every once in a while a disgruntled employee or an employee with unknown or hidden background will actually be hired. The new era of social media and interaction on the Internet has magnified the severity of the outbursts from disgruntled employees and can affect an office atmosphere. The line has to be drawn when such behavior disturbs office productivity and causes tension between employees. The examples included below are from real-life employees who were outed and caught on social networking sites. It stresses the importance of a criminal background check and pre employment screening on every potential employee!

1. Buckingham Palace Guardsman Cameron Reilly isn’t Kate Middleton’s biggest fan and was quickly fired after his Facebook post leaked through to the entire public. He posted: “Hur and William drove past me on Friday n all a got was a wave while she looked the opposite way from me, stupid stuck up cow am I not good enough for them!” With open comments like the one above, is not hard to imagine what happened next.

2. A burlesque dancer who went by the name Professor Shimmy had her identity revealed over some performances posted on You Tube and was fired from her job for her after-hour activities. According to new reports, she was an associate professor at John F. Kennedy University and the University was not impressed with her burlesque hobby believing it would hinder her credibility as a professor. In March, she sued the university over firing her.

3. In a place where smoking is banned on campus, the last person you’d expect to break the rules would be the school principal. However, that was just what happened when the Principal of Central High School in Providence, Rhode Island, decided to smoke on campus. A student snapped a shot of her smoking and posted it to his Web site. He then proceeded to pass out flyers all around campus urging other students to visit his site and view the picture. Little did he know that by doing this he’d be granted several days off from school (what a punishment)! Once the local news caught wind of what happened, the student’s suspension was stopped.

4. After tweeting jokes about the disaster in Japan, Gilbert Gottfried was fired from his job as the Aflac duck voice. Although the jokes were from his Twitter account, Japan notified the company and they quickly released him as they deal with 75% of Japan’s business and tried to respect the devastation occurring in the country.

Many and most employees seem to be honest, upstanding citizens but their personal lives and activities can speak more about them than anything else. Discover what your employees are doing in their spare time and from now on hire only potential employees with clean records.

Are Your Employees Being Held Accountable?

Are your employees held accountable? Fraud can cost your business everything. It is something that in reality many companies face due to an unexpecting employee who becomes desperate. For example a most recent story is of Lincoln Memorial Shrine in Redlands. They are facing tough decisions on how to stay open and what to cut back on due to an employee who started to skim off the top which turned into embezzling $30,000 in two years.

Misti Moore was the administrative assistant who started to take small amounts from the memorial to cover her gambling debts, but two years into taken money it turned into $30,000. Moore would write checks to herself and then go to great lengths to electronically alter the records that came back from the bank to make it appear that those checks were being written to legitimate businesses.

Everyone was blown away by the fact that Moore was so unassuming, and would have never imagined she would do such a thing. Because of cutbacks Moore was laid off and that is when the embezzlement came to light. The person who replaced her noticed the irregularities in the banking and notified the police. Moore is being charged with embezzlement, and now Lincoln Memorial Shrine is looking at ways to keep the doors open.

Lincoln Memorial Shrine is now making changes by having a job once performed by one person dealing with the money will now be handled by three staffers who will keep an eye on the accounts and, by default, each other. Are you making sure your employees are held accountable? Setting up systems where not one is in charge of all the accounts, but everyone is held accountable is one way to prevent fraud. Make sure you have a system in place where pre employment background screening is first and systems are second when it comes to employment.

Closing For Memorial Day

We wanted to let you know that we will be closed in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. AccuScreen will resume normal business hours on Tuesday May 31st.

Enjoy the holiday!

Thanks from
The AccuScreen.com Team

Top 10 Weirdest Complaints that Human Resources Departments Have Received from Their Employees

There is no wonder why people go to work everyday. Obviously, they get paid to go in and work but they also get to work with other interesting employees! This statement is not always universally agreed upon as the Human Resources Departments of most companies deal with the complaints of employees about their ‘disturbing’, not ‘interesting,’ co-workers.

Here we have included the top 10 weirdest complaints that Human Resource Managers have received as reported to CareerBuilder from a recent survey:

*1) If there are ever good cookies in the break room X employees eats them.

*2) Employees who are too polite often make the people around them angry.

*3) Another co-worker has been attempting to poison them.

*4) There are no places in the office to nap.

*5) There is one employee who always wears his slippers to work.

*6) A co-worker breathes to noisily.

*7) A co-worker once asked to be checked for ticks.

*8) Work needs to start later. 8 a.m. is way to early to be up and ready.

*9) One employee has been wearing bells on her shoes and it is not Christmas!

*10) The men’s bathroom is messy so a certain male co-worker keeps using the women’s bathroom!

While these complaints may seem a little over-the-top to you the reader, the employee who reported them felt compelled enough to do something about it. Some of these claims, however, should be looked into further. For example, it is a serious accusation to say that a co-worker is trying to poison you. Pre employment background screenings and/or criminal background checks are two ways to help companies really get to know their employees before hiring them. If you discover a potential employee who has been fired or jailed for threatening poisoning or a similar offense this is an immediate red flag for the hiring committee.

A medical doctor, Dr. Michael Swango, was recently convicted of killing a number of patients. The hospital staff itself attempted to do a criminal background check instead of hiring a professional company. Unfortunately, in the hospital’s background check they missed that Dr. Swango had spent 5 years in jail in a different state for poisoning his co-workers. You want your company to be well informed in order to avoid hiring this type of employee and thus should trust a professional screening company.

While the other complaints on the top-10 list are quite hilarious to actually imagine happening, the final complaint regarding the men and women’s washrooms could become a major problem. A dangerous situation could arise if the male employee is using the women’s restroom with bad intentions. It cannot only result in numerous and potentially destructive complaints for co-workers but could be a liability for the business. Unfortunately, many companies decide to decline pre-employment background screening and criminal background checks because of finances.

When you look at both of these examples, the importance of background checks before hiring a potential employee is enormous. Not only for the safety of your employees but also for the legal responsibility of your company!

Five of the Best Hiring Tips for Human Resources and Hiring Professionals

There is often a never-ending pool of potential employees that seem to be the right fit for your company. Hiring the very best of this group can be easy if you proactively remember these 5 hiring tips:

1. Pre employment screening companies are a reliable way to help you select the right employee to fit your company’s wants and needs. A screening company can help you figure out which employee from your vast pile of resumes is actually worth hiring. A pre employment screening company offers a wide range of services including criminal background searches, drug test results, past employment history and so on. HR Managers feel more confident knowing that the candidates they are considering are truly qualified, are not past criminals and can start their job on a positive note.

2. For all job postings put out by your company include a thorough job description. Candidates who are seriously considering the job will be able to see if their skill sets can fill the expectations of the company before they apply for the position. In general, under-qualified applicants will refrain from applying and HR will be able to expend their efforts to those potential candidates who could really fit in with the company.

3. After the initial weeding has taken place by including a full job description, attempt to conduct as many interviews as possible for those employees you were impressed with on paper. While their resume may seem professional, in person they may not strike you as the ideal candidate. Make sure the employees you believe have potential are also teachable. This is an important skill to learn the ropes quickly. A pre employment screening company can help HR Managers see how many jobs and for how long each candidate has held and help them decide if they would be a good long-term employee.

4. Remember to ask directed questions during the interview. This can help you see whether or not they will be able to handle real situations that could arise in the workplace and with other employees. For example, you could ask: “how would you handle an unsatisfied and aggressive customer?” This can help you see how they would actually deal with customers and use their critical and problem-solving skills.

5. Always, always make sure to check over each potential candidates references thoroughly. An employee’s work record can be brought to light by a reference from a past employee. During these callbacks, you should ask about their attendance, timeliness, worth ethic and customer-skills. A pre employment screening company can do these reference checks for you and neutrally ask the questions that you want answered. This can be a big asset in helping you make the right hiring decision!

10 Ways to Motivate your Employees in 2011

No one has been immune to the recent economy lapses and its wave of ravages. In the large number of those affected, HR Managers and Businesses have not been able to avoid rough times. Companies, families and individuals alike should take proactive steps to help turn them around. Here are ten actions that can be introduced immediately and will help motivate your employees!

1. Sub-goals are a useful strategy in motivating employees. Make sure there are clear rewards when these sub-goals have been accomplished. An example of this is offering a staff party or lunch for regaining a certain number of accounts in one month.

2. Monetary rewards are always popular amongst employees. This can often take an employee’s minds off the tanked economy for a moment or two. Small monetary incentives, such as a $5 gift certificate for a coffee shop, for challenges around the office will motivate employees to work harder. These challenges can include the most criminal background checks in one day or the most tenant screenings in one hour.

3. Allow your employees to make rules around the office. Giving employees a certain amount of power helps increase morale. The statement “power to the people” really does help improve the way a company feels. While higher-ranking employees still have the ability to pass or decline what the others suggest, it still allows the general office employees to express their own opinions and suggestions.

4. Attempt to provide the office with breakfast at least once a week. If this is not something already built into your budget, as your management to insert this into the budget. For example, at a pre employment screening company, this small offering to your employees can help increase productivity in criminal background searches for the entire week, especially if the breakfast is held on a Monday morning.

5. Similar to the breakfast idea, ask your management to budget in a monthly or bi-weekly lunch for all employees. You could strategically make it a working lunch and discuss recent work related topics or provide a learning seminar for all of your employees at the same time. Your employees’ will be gaining industry-related information as well as appreciating the generosity of a free lunch.

6. Monthly potlucks are also a great way to incorporate a working lunch into the office atmosphere. Employees are able to bond while sharing recipes and delicious food while at the same time focusing on business.

7. Birthday celebrations are another easy way to boost employee morale. A small management budget and a few bucks pitched in by other employees can cover birthday related expenses. These celebrations are greatly appreciated by employees and also create a positive atmosphere around the office.

8. Missions Statements can be an effective motivational method. These are usually better when they are department specific. For example, at an employment screening firm separate different work groups and ask them to put together a list of goals and interests that are most important to them. If your Missions Statement has a suggestion from each employee they will feel more part of the group.

9. Include the staff in the hiring process for each department. While employees can’t help with the criminal background searches of prospective employees, they will feel valued if their opinion is considered.

10. Anonymous suggestions help include employees in improving the overall company. Make sure the suggestions are read and considered by upper-management and attempt to put the words into action!

How to Become an Effective Boss

Are you striving to become a better and more effective boss?

Becoming a good and effective boss can be two different things. Good refers more on a person’s character while being effective involves proper management. If you want to be better in terms of being a good boss, you should first be able to understand your employees.

A few tips of helping you be a good boss are :

• Putting yourself in their shoes
• Perceiving things the way they do
• Understanding better what their needs are.

Now in order to be an effective one, the foremost step to do is to find the right people to work for your company. With the growing rate of resume falsification nowadays, it has become quite hard to determine which people are really qualified to work for your company or just lying on their resume. Studies have been done and have proven over one third of applicants lie on their resume. Even if you have excellent management skills, if your employees are not manageable at all, it will be very hard for you.

One way to ensure that only good employees enter your company, you have to conduct background searches on your applicants such as criminal background check. A background check provides valuable information about a person’s background, which includes educational verification, employment history, criminal records, medical records, driving records, drug testing records, vehicle registration, credit reports, military records, professional licenses, Social Security number, former residences, character references, incarceration records, sex offender’s list and many others.

Moreover, you should be able to provide proper motivation to your employees so that they will be able to produce excellent results. Motivation can be through rewards, recognition, increase in salary or giving of workers compensation. This is necessary to maximize your employee’s productivity so they can contribute better to the growth and success of your company.

It is not that difficult to become a good boss if you are a good person. Becoming an effective employer on the other hand, means being able to balance the needs of your company, your employees and yourself.

How To Avoid Problematic Restaurant Employees

In the hospitality field there are several major issues that owners or managers face while handling the day-to-day operations of restaurants. One of the biggest headaches for these employers is the ‘problematic’ employee. Thus, it is important to define the varying types and characteristics of a ‘problematic’ employee. This worker can perform in a variety of positions such as server, cashier, bartender, cook or chef. While all of these positions are very different they can easily be detected by a simple pre-employment background screening. It if first important to review the common traits ‘problematic’ employees often share.

Firstly, the ‘No-Show.’ This type of employee runs from the occasional tardy employee to the flaky employee that fails to show up when scheduled to work. They cause disruptions and strain among co-workers who have to pick up the slack the ‘problematic’ employee creates. He/she also lowers the morale of the rest of the staff through lack of concern for fellow employees and the policies.

Secondly, the ‘Prima Donna.’ This worker is difficult to train, get along with and, once working, does as little as possible while complaining the entire time. This employee usually does not have the best customer service skills and can often cost restaurants valuable customers.

Thirdly, the ‘Sneakster.’ This type of employee may embezzle, commit credit card fraud and be involved in identity theft. This employee may also make a false worker’s compensation claim.

Lastly, the ‘Player.’ This employee thinks he/she is irresistible to the opposite sex. They tend to use the workplace as their spot to meet potential dates. This makes co-workers, especially those of the opposite sex, uncomfortable and can lead to a lack of productivity. This worker can bring about unwanted and costly sexual harassment claims.

Now knowing the characteristics and types of the ‘problematic’ employee, it is important to learn how to recognize ‘problematic’ employees. There is no way an employer can recognize a potential ‘problematic’ employee at first sight. All employers can and should take preventive measures to make sure they don’t end up with lousy and unproductive workers. Many of the traits listed above can be discovered through a careful pre-employment background screening. This is usually best left to a professional employment background company such as Accuscreen.com. With 14 years of experience conducting pre-employment background and criminal records screenings, AccuScreen.com is an excellent resource in the fight against problematic employees.

Employers need to understand the negative effects of problematic employees and the risks associated when hiring restaurant employees blindly. Loss of profit can be due to many reasons. Sexual harassment lawsuits can lead to high legal expenses and settlement fees. Loss of business due to bad customer service leads customers not to continue dining at the restaurant. Credit card fraud, identity theft and embezzlement can cause liability issues that many insurance companies will not cover. Worker’s Compensation claims cause increasing insurance rates and hurt companies. All of these negative effects can be the result of a ‘problematic’ employee. Employers need to be aware of the financial consequences of this type of employee’s actions. Bigger companies may be able to withstand some of the financial losses, but for smaller businesses it may be devastating.

Avoiding ‘problematic’ employees is essential and taking preventative measures is the best way in keeping the lazy, difficult or unethical employee out of your restaurant. It can be done easily by simply investing in a background screening firm. Getting all the information needed on a job applicant’s background can be time consuming and confusing for most owners and managers.

Dentists: You Can Avoid Embezzlers Embezzlement in Dental Offices

Dental offices are often susceptible to embezzlement and one of the main reasons is because these offices are too busy to keep track of the paperwork and money incoming to each office. Unfortunately, unethical staff members are well aware of this major flaw and take full advantage of the situation.

It is important to understand how to decrease the chances of embezzlement in a dental office. One of the surest ways to help avoid embezzlement situations is to avoid hiring any employee you feel uncomfortable interviewing. This is especially true for potential employees who have a spotty work history or lack of solid and reliable references.

Below are three experiences as expressed by real dentists and an orthodontist who unfortunately experienced an embezzlement situation in their business:

“My office manager (of course) was setting aside insurance checks, then picking
out cash that matched the amount of the checks. The checks were never deposited
into the patients’ accounts, so the bank deposit balanced. She did this for almost
10 years, for a total of at least $700,000. Her litigation is currently pending.
I had two other people counting the money and I have excellent evidence against
her. The insurance accounts past due eventually became overwhelming and she
was finally caught.” (Michigan orthodontist)

“My newly-hired office manager often took my office deposits in locked bank bags
to the bank. Away from the office and in secret, she took the key for the locked bag and
removed the cash. In addition, she took patients’ checks and using her ink-stamp, she
repeatedly stamped over my endorsement, showing her name as the endorser.
The bank teller gave her cash for my checks. Over 186 times from the same teller. I
successfully went after her and she received 13 months in prison. She got out of
prison and was hired by the state of Georgia, again handling money. There she
allegedly embezzled $1.5M.” (Georgia dentist)

“An employee took about $13k during a 12-month period. Police are working on
the case now. She has since resigned and is working for a new dentist that never
called to check her references.” (Kentucky dentist)

Unfortunately, for these dental offices, they had to experience workplace embezzlement before they could put in place preventative measures. In many cases, an employee had a history of theft in the workplace that the employer was either unaware of or unconcerned about. To help prevent such cases from reoccurring, it would only take an employment background screening with a criminal records search to uncover past convictions or inconsistencies at a prior position and workplace.

Dental offices are also easy targets for embezzlers because for the majority of the time dental offices do not conduct reference checks. This may be due to the fact that many offices are small businesses operating without a strong or any type of human resources department. For small companies, such as dental offices, it is extra important to invest in pre-employment background screenings as an extra precaution. While embezzlement is devastating for all sizes of companies, it is especially destructive on small companies, which could easily be put out of business.

The experiences revealed above help stress to dental offices the importance in taking more proactive methods in employment hiring, including pre-employment background screening. For more information on how to protect your office against embezzlement give us a call at 800-689-2228.

Employers: Avoid The Biggest Challenge In Finding Good Employees

One of the biggest challenges in finding good employees starts with the selection process. Employers question the ways in which they can keep from hiring unproductive employees. The answer to their questions lies in the job description, the interviewing process and a professional pre-employment screening of each potential candidate.

It is important to compose a strong job description including the title of the position, department, who the job reports to, what overall responsibilities it includes, key areas of responsibility, objectives, the term of employment and qualifications needed. This type of job description will attract serious and qualified candidates instead of large groups of run-of-the-mill candidates. Job seekers who are serious in their job search want as much information as possible before they apply to a position. Vague or poorly written job descriptions often push away great candidates.

A good interviewing process should always include both sides – employer and potential employee. Many interviewers make the mistake in thinking that a job interview is one sided and only ask questions aimed at finding out what the candidate can do for the company. A candidate often articulates what is important to him/herself but the interviewer must listen to discover what they can do for this potential employee. The honest truth is that most people apply for a job that will offer the most he/she can get. If the candidate is highly skilled or has a profession that is in high demand this is especially true. If you know your company is slow at handing out raises, make use of any other perks your company may have to offer and divulge them to the potential candidate. These perks can be anything from flextime to telecommuting. Many good employees will consider it a huge perk to be able to take off a few hours early to avoid a heave commute!

Professional pre-employment screening becomes an important issue in finding productive employees, as many times recruiters will like a candidate and, unfortunately, makes the mistake of overlooking any minor inconsistencies discovered in reference checks. While reference checks can provide a potential employer a more reliable view of the so-called candidate it does not equal the effectiveness and efficiency a pre-employment screening from an experienced company. Recruiters may opt to ‘overlook’ any inconsistencies because they like the candidate and want to fill the open position as quickly as possible. This can be a costly mistake to the company. Obtaining accurate, recent and factual information is a difficult task for someone who does not do it consistently and expertly. This is best left to a professional employee background-screening firm.

It is important for companies to select the ‘right’ employee from the beginning, not only to save them time but also for financial reasons. In order to do this, and regardless of the candidate, a pre-employment background screening should be conducted. Pre-employment screening can help avoid problematic employees by discovering their resume inconsistencies or even fraud. Screenings can also help you avoid becoming part of a negligent hiring lawsuit for your failure to verify information on an applicant, should any problems happen in the future.

Holiday Hours

Just wanted to let you know that our offices will be closing at 2:00pm on Friday April 24th. This will allow our employees to be with their families for Easter. If you have any questions please give us a call 800-689-2228.

Thanks from
Kevin Connell and the AccuScreen Team

4 Highly Effective Ways To Reduce Workplace Violence

Workplace violence is an important issue to be trained on in case it happens in your workplace. Workplace violence is violence or the threat of violence against workers. It can occur inside or outside the workplace and can range from verbal threats and abuses to physical assaults, as severe as homicide. However it happens, workplace violence is a growing concern for employers and employees nationwide and abroad.

Companies should have a major focus on reducing and, ideally, eliminating, workplace violence. According to the Department of Labor (DOL), “Violence in the workplace is a serious safety and health issue. Its most extreme form, homicide, is the fourth-leading cause of fatal occupational injury in the United States.” This statistic is both staggering and crucial to change for the safety of all.

While not all incidents can be prevented, employers can take the following steps to greatly reduce the chances of their employees becoming victims or offenders of crime.

Firstly, make professional pre-employment background screening a mandatory step in the hiring process. Use a professional and experienced company such as Accu-Screen.com. Having a deeper knowledge of the background of employees that are working for you is important in reducing problems that can lead to workplace violence. A careful, thorough employee background screening including record searches for both criminal records and substance abuse can reveal many inconsistencies. Employers need to be aware for this information to try and protect their workplace. It is the responsibility and duty of an employer to make sure that only qualified, safe employees are hired.

Secondly, employers should establish a zero-tolerance policy toward any type of workplace violence against or by their employees. This includes both physical and verbal violence. The employer should set up a workplace violence prevention program or include the information into an existing accident prevention program, manual of standard operating procedures or employee handbook. It is critical to ensure that all employees know the policy and understand that all claims of workplace violence will be investigated and remedied promptly.

Thirdly, intervention should be taken immediately if any workplace violence is seen or reported. Intervention is some type of action taken to break up a situation. This is not the time to make final judgment or to administer final discipline, rather, simply focus on diffusing the initial situation. Once the parties have calmed down there will be an opportunity to thoroughly review options for resolution. Intervention often sets the tone for how the situation will be resolved, and thus, it must be handled very carefully. Most employers should have some type of Employee Assistance Program (EAP) in place, which they can refer employees to. Depending on the situation, having an empathetic attitude while clearly informing an employee that violence will not be tolerated is one of the best ways to approach intervention.

Lastly, as an employer, be prepared to be involved and respond to each workplace violence situation. Although some acts of violence can be prevented, there is no way to guarantee against a violent incident. It is for this reason that employers need to be prepared to respond in such a way as to contain the harm, protect lives and property, prevent panic and take control of the situation as quickly as possible. Coincidently, every company and each department should have an established system or procedure to notify all personnel of a dangerous situation or incident in case they need to be evacuated from the building quickly. Of course, good judgment is key. Do not attempt to handle a violent situation yourself and dial 911 immediately!

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