NEW YORK – Americans are quickly becoming accustomed to much tighter levels of security at airports, in government buildings and even at football games. But executives are only beginning to think about improving safety in the workplace, say security experts. Many fail to take the basic step of doing background checks on the people they hire.
According to HireCheck, an employment screening company, more than one employee in four misrepresents their educational background or employment history when applying for a job, about one in 10 has a criminal history, and a similar fraction have drug problems. An employee with drug problems costs a company about $10,000 per year in lost productivity, theft and other expenses.
The terrorist attacks of September 11 “were a wake-up call to American companies,” says Christina Sultan, managing director of Sultan & Co. “Many executives were unaware how easy it is to create a false identity in the United States, and to fraudulently obtain official government documents such as a Social Security card or a license to drive trucks transporting hazardous materials.” Her private investigation firm routinely does background checks for many large companies, but she finds that smaller firms often are much more trusting about prospective employees.
A basic background check, which takes a couple of days and costs a few hundred dollars, would have quickly uncovered the types of false documents and questionable histories that surfaced in the investigation of those involved in the September 11 attacks. Employers are unlikely to uncover a terrorist working for them, but will in many cases find clues to potential workplace problems.
According to the Workplace Violence Research Institute, more than 700 workers are attacked every day and more than 16,000 are threatened. Often these threats and attacks are from customers, but about a quarter of them are from other employees, and others are from spouses of employees.
Companies that fail to screen out potential employees with criminal or drug histories stand to lose more than productivity. Workplace violence can trigger lawsuits against the employer for negligent hiring, negligent supervision or inadequate security. In such cases the average jury award is $3 million, and out-of-court settlements average $500,000, according to the Institute.
