The outbreak of COVID-19 is not only health crisis but can also be termed as human, economic, and social crisis as it has greatly affected all the segments of population. With this pandemic, like other industries,co background screening industry is also being affected and is compelled to use other methods of conducting employee verification.
With changing circumstances, operational structures of companies are also evolving to adapt with the situation. For background verification companies, these are the top trends are believed to be most followed by the verifiers.
- Contingent Offers
- Remote Drug Testing
- Continuous Screening
During this time, there are many industries that have abundant hiring needs such as health care departments, logistic centers, and food delivery etc. It is highly recommended for employers to clearly state that the job offer is reliant on the successful completion of background check which can happen before or after the start date of their employment.
Drug testing is one of essential checks in employee verification. With the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases, medical laboratories are bombarded with patients and professionals are prioritizing COVID patients which delays the drug screening result. Employers should revise and devise a policy or practice that offers alternate methods of screening like remote drug testing.
In continuous screening, background checks are ran continuously against the employees either daily, weekly or monthly with purpose to identify any illegal behavior emitted by the employee after being hired. Although employers must take under consideration the restrictions and compliance requirements associated with continuous screening which include authenticity, permission, validating data at the originating source, EEOC or FCRA concerns, and the consequences on the employees.
Employers should keep the background screening policy accessible for all the employees and should take care of the fact that they have given their agreement to such checks being conducted against them on a regular basis.
