What is Continuous Background Screening?

Is Continuous Background Screening the future? Very likely. This new tool provides safety and piece of mind for your company and employees.

As GroupOne Background Screening has stated before, employment background verification is almost a necessity in today’s market, with over 70% of businesses in the U.S. conducting background checks. Over the years, background verification providers have employed an experienced team of employees to sift through data, documents and phone records.

Today, the HR trend providing the greatest level of safety is Continuous Background Screening, also known as rolling background checks.

What is it?
Most businesses conduct background checks when screening candidates to learn the facts about their applicants. Background verification is a risk-mitigation tool that evaluates a candidate’s character and protects employers from making the dreaded “bad hiring decision.”

It’s important to stay safe. You want to be sure you’re protecting your company against liability and creating a safe workplace for employees and customers.

Continuous Background Screening takes the traditional approach to the next level. While education credentials and employment information remain a constant, criminal records, driving records and credit reports can change, oftentimes dramatically.

With workplace harassment and fraud triggering concerns about the quality of your workforce, employers have a need for continuous monitoring.

Continuous Background Screening monitors employee records in real-time to flag safety concerns. Continuous Background Screening takes place after hiring employees, performed in real-time for the entire workforce.

Today, it’s a necessity for companies like Lyft and Uber who in 2019, went public with their plans to conduct continuous background screening for their workers. They now receive continuous updates about drivers’ records and criminal violations.

While Continuous Background Screening is an innovative tool, it’s subject to the same compliance considerations as pre-employment background checks. Here’s a few considerations:

Compliance
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), background checks including continuous screening must be performed with employee consent. While most authorization forms require a one-time consent, an employee has the right to withdraw their consent at any time. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) also requires employers to take into account the gravity of the offense, the job and how long ago it occurred, before taking action.

Technology
It’s important to ensure your Continuous Background Screening provider has deep experience in technology as well as a background screening.

Security
Monitoring employee records continuously will lead to a significant accumulation of sensitive data. It’s crucial that you store this data in a secure fashion. It might also be a good idea to train your HR team about data security best practices.

Continuous Background Screening could be the future. Changing workplace realities and the explosion of technology make it vital for companies to be proactive with risk management.

On the flipside, if you take the Continuous Background Screening route, you must be completely transparent with your employees on how you track their information. Building trust is key meaning, some traditions remain.