Blog by Danny Davila, Executive Director of GroupOne

Employers continuously remind us the most important resource in their company is employees. The financial commitment to acquire, develop and retain talent is more critical than ever before. A key component is the background report. The governance of the report is conducted by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and companies such as GroupOne should uphold these regulations.

A recent survey by The National Association of Professional Background Screeners (of which GroupOne is a member) was issued by HR.com to over 1,528 HR professionals across the U.S. The survey’s intent was to report how companies approach background screening. Outcomes of the survey provide an insight into today’s trends.

A candidate’s criminal history is at the forefront. At least 83 percent of respondents indicated they request some type of criminal history. Most requests are from national and county databases producing conviction records and court decisions. Consumer reporting agencies such as GroupOne receive raw data in several reports, and they are studied so multiple identifiers match to ensure accuracy.

Employers recognize the importance of a report being accurate. However, they are continuously looking for methods to reduce the time it takes to produce the report. Consumer reporting agencies are also exploring practices to reduce time, yet not accuracy. A recent trend is to remove identifying information such as addresses and birth dates from public records. Censoring identifiers adds time, increases uncertainty and impacts the onboarding period of the candidate.

Your consumer reporting agency brings a valuable service to your HR office. Background reports provide independent research and verification. Employees conducting the requests are state-licensed professional investigators and utilize the latest technology to attain a wide array of records. Ultimately, our primary objective is to ensure clients can hire candidates with confidence they are hiring a safe workforce.