How post-employment screening can help mitigate people risk

In today’s business and compliance environment, it’s crucial to minimise the risk from unsuitable candidates.

Pre-employment background checks help to mitigate people-related risks such as employee theft, safety concerns, inappropriate behaviour on social media, data security breaches, and more. But this alone may not be enough.

Increasingly, organisations are adding post-employment screening to their employee background checking procedures.

What is post-employment screening or rescreening?

An employee’s role and responsibilities within your company will typically evolve, whether through promotion or changes in job duties. It may be necessary to rescreen candidates after these developments to confirm their suitability. This process is often known as post-employment screening or rescreening. It allows for a reassessment of an employee’s suitability for their current position, providing additional protection for the organisation.

Why is post-employment screening important?

• Rescreening can help you identify potential issues with employees that may have gone unnoticed during the initial hiring process. Depending on the circumstances, this could include criminal activity, fraud, problematic behavioural traits, or even changes in the employee’s personal life.
• Post-employment screening helps you catch potential problems early, before they have a chance to cause significant damage. If an employee were to be convicted of a crime after being hired, a rescreening process would likely reveal this and allow you to take appropriate action. For instance, jobs in haulage may require a driving licence. Only regular checks can reduce the associated risks if a driver fails to inform their employer about a licence being revoked.
• Rescreening also helps you remain compliant with laws and regulations. People with criminal records are subject to strict hiring rules in many industries. Your company can prevent inadvertent violations of these rules by regularly rescreening employees. For example, periodic enhanced DBS checks are appropriate for people working with children or adults receiving healthcare or personal care in certain circumstances.

How often should post-employment screening happen?

In many industries, employee background checking has become a continuous process that people agree to as part of their employment contracts. Depending on the industry, this could extend to driving record checks, social media checks, financial history checks, and more.

It’s imperative to conduct regular rescreening in the financial services industry, which is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). There have been cases of insider information misuse, where employees have profited from inside information. There have also been cases of money laundering. Regularly reviewing the criminal records and financial history of employees and monitoring their transactions and activities can help detect and prevent these types of activities. 

Customising a rescreening program to fit your company’s specific needs and risks is the right approach. Some companies may choose to regularly rescreen all employees, while others may only target specific individuals.

Regardless of how you run it, an effective and efficient rescreening system helps to minimise risk, maintain compliance, and protect your employees, customers, and stakeholders.

Are you looking for ways to protect your company from potential risks and stay compliant? 

For your pre-employment and rescreening needs, learn more about Zellis Background Checking here.