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The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many industries and companies in vastly different ways. But with the unemployment rate rising as high in some countries. E.g. 27.1% in India for May 2020, it’s vital to consider a return to offices to get workers back into their jobs to support families and communities.

Each company will invariably create their own tailored and specific return to work plan but a universal understanding is that there are many operational issues to consider and plan for in this ‘new normal’. It’s also imperative to turn your mind to whether your organisation and your employees are indeed ready for a return to the workplace.

One aspect that should be front of mind in your return to work plan is background screening. After their time away from the office, are your employees suitable to return to their roles? Have they had any incidents during their time away from the office that may affect their performance? Are they still fit to represent your business?

Implementing a tailored suite of background screening services helps you regain confidence and reassurance in your employees’ suitability for their roles at your company as we return to the office. Background screening can help you ensure that you are aware of any incidents during the time away from the office. This is particularly relevant for incidents that might affect an employee’s performance and behaviour back in the workplace or might negatively impact on your business and your other staff members.

As circumstances change, people and their personal circumstances will also change. Rescreening your staff before they head back to the office means minimising your workforce risk and ensuring that your organisation is investing in the right staff to return to the workplace.

Ongoing screening is now recognised as a best practice to ensure that your employee culture continues to be aligned with your company’s values. It also helps to ensure that your company’s return to work is smooth and safe for all.

One of the things that can help you with that is to take our quick quiz to see whether your business is fit to return to the office.

 

Over the last few months, the way individuals work and how companies operate, changed forever. An estimated 16 million U.S. “knowledge workers” started working remotely to practice social distancing or self-quarantine in a short amount of time. This transition to a new digital workforce is expected to remain, with an estimated 25-30% of employees working-from-home multiple days of the week by the end of 2021.

The technology industry was met with a unique set of circumstances when all at once, people across the world began relying on your technologies more than ever. Suddenly, work, school, doctors’ appointments, fitness classes, and social gatherings became remote. During the pandemic, technology became so important that 93% of U.S. adults said a significant interruption to internet or cellphone service would be an obstacle in their daily lives.

To support this increase and growing reliance on technology, many tech companies began ramping up hiring. According to a study by Dice, Silicon Valley saw a substantial increase in job postings as they “…produce products and services vital to remote work and life, from messaging software to email and cloud platforms.” Even with this significant increase in tech job postings, COVID-19 has turned the table from an “employee-market” to an “employer-market” with the tech talent pool being larger than ever.

With this influx of applications, finding the right candidate for your company is more important now than ever. Background checks can help you vet candidates and prioritize trust and safety throughout your organization.

So, how can you use thorough background checks to hire the strongest candidate? We’re glad you asked. Here are five components that will help you create a robust screening program that is responsive to your company’s values and needs. Or, would you prefer to skip to how Sterling can help? Click here to start a conversation with us

Tools for Making Informed Choices

Look for a screening provider who partners with you and offers customized background screening tools and supporting information that suits your business needs. Tech companies struggle to confirm that each hire can fulfill job requirements, is forthright with their skills, and has a strong knowledge base. In fact, according to a recent report from Blind, 1 in 10 tech pros lie on their resume to get a job. Tech companies dominate the list of companies most likely to employ people who lied on their resume. Candidates can exaggerate their education, job titles, or prior experience. Anything stated that relates to pre-employment can be potentially fabricated. These situations are frightening when recruiting for jobs that require a specific knowledge base – a key component of tech jobs.

To mitigate the risk of hiring the wrong person, you can partner with a background screening provider that caters to specific industry needs, is compliance-focused, and can adapt to changing industry trends. Robust background checks can help you verify that your new hire has the right education, skills, and experiences that they claim.

Global Knowledge Backed by Compliance Expertise

Technology companies are often spread across cities, states, and continents. From a legal and compliance standpoint – hiring, recruiting, and screening employees becomes more intricate across regions and global jurisdictions. Background screening requirements vary domestically and internationally based on laws, rules, and regulations. International companies need to stay ahead of the curve by addressing the everchanging landscape of rules and regulations that comes with hiring across the globe. Technology companies are looking for the same seamless candidate experience regarding background checks, both domestically and across the world.

A secure background screener enables you to remain compliance-focused in global markets. Look for a screening provider that can extend their services globally in the same efficient and diligent framework while addressing regulations at various levels of jurisdictions, including local, state, national, and global. As your company expands, you should focus on finding the right talent instead of depleting your valuable company resources.

Employees Embody Brand Values on Social Media

The numbers are written on the wall — particularly the numbers around the global use of social media is staggering for both businesses and personal use. According to a 2019 study by Global Digital Report, there are over 3.48 billion social media users worldwide. The average person spends 2 hours and 22 minutes a day on social media. With all this online usage, social media is gaining a greater importance for businesses, and even assists in their hiring process.

With all of this personal information online, how can you use social media screening during the hiring process? Online profiles can provide insights into a person that work histories may not reveal. When hiring managers or internal company resources look at a candidate’s social media accounts, they can consciously or subconsciously discriminate based on what they see online. Additionally, there are compliance and legal requirements around preforming social media searches. Partnering with a third-party to review a candidate’s social profiles mitigates bias. Social Media Screening can help protect you from hiring people who present problematic or discriminatory behavior regarding sex, race, disability, religious beliefs, and gender. With this type of screening, companies can preempt red flags and advance towards embodying its core values.

A Strong Candidate Experience

Just as you are using background checks to assess candidates, candidates form an impression of your company during their background screening process. These checks can be an extension, and initial introduction, to a successful candidate experience. After the interview process, background checks are an employee’s first interaction with your company. The overall onboarding experience allows you to make an impression on your new employees that can stick with them as they begin work. Throughout the onboarding process, you can use a personalized approach to reflect a positive, efficient, and painless experience. Instead of becoming a nuisance, background checks can be seamless, timely, and convenient. These interactions and efficiencies are indicative of a strong candidate experience, and can leave new hires with a great impression of your company.

Robust Background Checks Complement Technology Companies

As the technology talent pool expands, efficient, robust, and compliance-focused background checks can help you choose the strongest tech candidate and help create a safe and responsive workplace. In a detail-oriented landscape that is a trademark of the technology industry, partnering with a reliable background check provider is critical. Exceptional service is punctuated by creating a plan tailored to your needs, with the added ability to scale globally.

Have more questions or just want to brainstorm how our technology industry-specific background checks can work for you? Our team is here for you, click here to start a conversation.

This publication is for informational purposes only and nothing contained in it should be construed as legal advice. We expressly disclaim any warranty or responsibility for damages arising out this information. We encourage you to consult with legal counsel regarding your specific needs. We do not undertake any duty to update previously posted materials.

United States

All 50 states have begun easing stay-at-home orders and reopening businesses stuck in limbo for more than two months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Are you ready? McKinsey & Company notes, “As businesses step into the post-coronavirus future, they need to find a balance between what worked before and what needs to happen to succeed in the next normal.”

Staffing firms have already had to re-imagine hiring processes to meet the increased demand for essential workers. Now, as business resumes on a larger scale, staffing firms need to address new compliance concerns directly related to COVID-19.

Managing Background Checks 

Stay-at-home orders may be lifting, but staffing firms still face some challenges when it comes to conducting background checks.

• Some courthouses closed or offered limited access when the COVID-19 shutdown began, which may make it harder to conduct criminal background checks in those areas. As they reopen — which may vary from state to state — verifying a new hire’s background could still take longer due to increased demand.
• The work-from-home model has proven exceptionally effective for some businesses, but it did slow down some employer verifications. Moving forward, some companies may keep their work-from-home plans in place for many employees as they reopen to better manage the risk of exposure to COVID-19.
• Verifying a candidates’ educational background may remain challenging as well. With many universities on the fence about re-opening campuses this fall, they may modify working arrangements for administrative staff, which could lead to longer response times when inquiring about a former student.

In order to keep the hiring process moving along, it’s important that any candidate-related communications make it clear that a job offer is contingent on reopening and completing the background check when circumstances allow.

Meeting New COVID-19 Compliance Requirements

As businesses reopen, it’s critical to consider evolving guidance from both federal and state agencies addressing the ongoing COVID-19 risk. Staffing firms should consider four key areas.

1. Follow state and local executive orders. The first places to look for guidance on reopening are the state and local laws issued by the government. While all states are at some stage of reopening, specific cities or regions within a state may be subject to different guidelines based on the number of active COVID-19 cases. Maintaining a close eye on developments in hiring laws and practices can help keep staffing firms on the right side of executive orders mandating social distancing, travel restrictions, or employee health screenings.
2. Follow CDC guidance for flattening the COVID-19 curve. This includes cleaning and disinfecting a host of frequently touched surfaces and objects – from doorknobs and light switches to computer keyboards and touchscreens. The CDC guidance also recommends continued behavioral safety practices like wearing masks, social distancing, and frequent handwashing.
3. Develop an infectious disease preparedness and response plan in accordance with OSHA guidelines. Some industries have a head-start, having already put plans in place to keep essential workers on the job. Before reopening, companies must ensure they address risk factors related to COVID-19. These include, but are not limited to, implementing basic infection prevention measures, establishing policies for screening, identifying potentially infectious individuals, and clearly communicating health and safety best practices with employees.
4. Follow the EEOC guidance. Keep in mind that equal employment opportunity laws are still in force, despite COVID-19. However, the EEOC has published guidance to help employers navigate what steps they can take without violating anti-discrimination laws such as the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).  EEOC guidance says that laws like the ADA and Rehabilitation Act “… do not interfere with or prevent employers from following the guidelines and suggestions made by the CDC or state/local public health authorities about steps employers should take regarding COVID-19.” For instance, COVID-19 testing by an FDA-approved lab may be required as a condition of returning to work, provided that the rights of disabled workers are taken into account. Companies may also require that employees have their temperatures taken before entering the workplace, and may ask employees to leave the workplace if they are exhibiting symptoms. However, employers may need to make reasonable accommodations for employees who are at a high risk of contracting the virus as a result of a health condition.

Taking a comprehensive approach to compliance with COVID-19 mandates and guidance goes beyond fulfilling legal requirements. By establishing proactive plans as employees return to work, companies can prioritize the safety of their employees, earn the trust of their customers, and strengthen their brands’ reputations.

Please note that Sterling is not a law firm. The material available in this publication is for informational purposes only and nothing contained in it should be construed as legal advice. We encourage you to consult with your legal counsel to obtain a legal opinion specific to your needs.

 

This first appear on Bulhorn.com

The battle for high-quality talent is heating up and technology is assisting recruiters in finding and securing the best talent. But how do we even determine the value or quality of hire in the first place?

Again, technology can help. As with all elements of a business, every decision should now be or will soon be measurable and quantifiable using data and technology. Human resourcing and talent has historically been difficult to measure, and almost taboo to try to quantify. However, with the new technology available and the increasing competitive pressures on all businesses, measuring the value and quality of hire has now become more achievable and imperative than ever.

An ideal “quality of hire” metric would indicate how much value a new employee brings to the organisation in the short-term and long-term. This metric helps to determine hiring strategies and resourcing allocation, and eventually lead to a high-performing and well-allocated workforce over time. At an organisation-level, creating a quality of hire metric will enable the business leaders to understand the effectiveness of your recruiting process and prove its strategic value to stakeholders.

At an organisation-level, creating a quality of hire metric will enable the business leaders to understand the effectiveness of your recruiting process and prove its strategic value to stakeholders.”

So how do we actually measure the quality of hire? This metric seems almost unquantifiable and immense to measure at first – it needs to include a wide range of variables, from the short-term elements like speed and efficiency of hiring to long-term variables like performance, culture fit and meeting business goals – and all of these elements can be both extremely subjective and hard to quantify.

As always with these nebulous measurements, there’s no single or magic metric for all organisations. Each organisation’s measure will be different, for example, speed and efficiency in one industry might be considered incredibly long in another industry and vice versa.

Google Hire (2020) recommends this formula to organizations to help measure quality of hire:

Using the range of indicators that are most important in your given organisation or industry, setting the indicators to a scale of 0-100 and then calculating using the formula above goes some way to help you measure the quality of the hire. It will never be an all-inclusive and all-knowing metric but it can definitely lead you in the right direction in terms of identifying trends and gaps. Some examples of the indicators that could be used by organisations are: performance appraisal scores, employee retention, employee satisfaction, and traditional performance reviews.

Calculating the quality of hire metric, and determining the relevant indicators for your organisation can be a work-in-progress which is regularly tweaked or updated. This may take time and be a continuous project but we believe it can provide significant value to your business in many ways:

Cost – good hires save you money both in the short and long-term. There is lesser need for training, they can hit the ground running and as they are more suited for the role, they are likely to stay in the organisation for a longer-term. The cost of retention is lower than the cost of hire, due to the initial training costs pegged to a new employee’s learning curve within the organisation. The suitability of the employee for the organisation can drive employee satisfaction and the desire to stay with the organisation for a longer term.

Culture – a good hire can help to improve your company’s culture through positive enthusiasm for a role, which in turn serve as a morale booster for the workplace. Bad hires, on the other hand, can have an even more significant negative effect on a workplace by spreading discontent to other employees and increasing conflict.

More informed decision-making – Through the analysis of the various indicators, it provides a deeper insight into your organisation’s hiring strategy. It would be difficult to improve your hiring decisions without having the evidence and data to show the trends. Informed hiring decisions, prevent a waste of human and financial resources in the long term as companies are able to streamline and apply targeted and strategic hiring strategies for the right hire in this competitive market.

Measure the effectiveness of your recruitment technology – It can be hard to quantify the benefits of using recruitment technology. However, through “quality of hire” data collected, organizations can identify hiring and retention trends resulting from the implementation of new technology and prove the value of well optimized human resource technology to internal stakeholders, driving confidence and ensuring future buy-in.

Insights into the candidate experience – in this competitive hiring market, an impressive candidate experience can ensure you are securing the top talent. Measuring the quality of hire can highlight gaps in the candidate experience and also demonstrate a positive candidate experience where the quality of hire is high from commencement.

As can be seen from these benefits, it is important to use metrics from before and after the hire to determine the overall quality of hire. Pre-employment communication or assessments can be used as well as post-hire performance and reviews to give a holistic view of a new candidate.

The availability of SaaS ( Software as a Service) applications, machine learning and AI technology, allows recruiters and HR departments to be better equipped in the assessment of quality of hire.

As the hiring market continues to speed up, one must be conscious and proactive in researching and understanding your options when it comes to the quality of hire.

We, Sterling RISQ, are here to help. Get in touch with us today, to learn more about implementing quality of hire metrics at your organisation.

This article appears in our Q1 2020 Newsletter. Click here to get your copy today!