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Use Screening and Police Checks To Prevent Employee Turnover

By: Colin Banfield


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Hiring policies within your organisation implement an important framework to guarantee that hiring practices are achieving suitable outcomes for your company. However, in our discussions with business owners, we are often surprised at how many otherwise diligent people forego police checks and turn a blind eye to the risks that they run when filling positions within their business.

Police checks are an important first step in the hiring process. Whether you are hiring permanent employees, bringing in contractors or giving temporary access to your premises or confidential data to an outside party you must take steps towards safeguarding the integrity of your secure systems and staff well-being.

The direct cost of white collar crime and fraud to Australian companies accounts for billions of dollars annually and the greatest proportion is connected to fraud. The Australian Institute of Criminology reported that fraud was responsible for 40% of the costs of crime in 2005. Surveys of frauds that have been reported by companies estimate the average cost per incident at approximately $36,000 for minor fraud and up to $1 million for serious fraud cases.

This report only takes into account the direct property losses and does not consider other related costs including the time to deal with detected frauds, disturbance to customary business practices as they are secured to prevent a recurrence, or the cost of re-hiring and training substitute staff.

So, what should business owners do to lessen the risk of fraud and theft within their business? Firstly, managers take notice of the fact that criminals with a history of fraud are often more at ease lying to the next employer during the interview and application. If their past includes convictions for such crimes there is greater likelihood that they will attempt to actively conceal their prior convictions. A straightforward and inexpensive police check would provide evidence of an applicant's police record - usually within 24 hours.

We counsel organisations to standardise on the practice of carrying out police checks across the board for all prospective employees. Sadly, there is an increased chance that someone who has stolen in the past will re-offend. Economically, it makes no more sense to forego police checks than it does to neglect insurance on your business.Our advice to business owners is that they should be conducting police checks without exception for all prospective employees. The price paid by the victim of crime versus the price of prevention makes a convincing case for anyone who examines the data or the emotional effects of the crime within their company. Economically, it is as hard to justify the decision to forego police checks as it is to let insurance cover on your business lapse.Unfortunately, there is a high statistical likelihood that a person with a criminal past will commit additional offences. We counsel companies to standardise on the practice of carrying out police checks universally for all prospective employees. Economically, it makes no more sense to ignore police checks than it does to abandon insurance on your business.

Many managers quote convenience and security concerns when choosing how to conduct police checks. A professional background checking company can provide online ordering and distribution of police checks. Please take into account that your use of the results of a police check is subject to the Privacy Act within Australia so the supplier you select should also facilitate secure and confidential access to check results within your organisation.

Police checks are the easiest and least expensive protection you can obtain. They are a cost effective first step in preventing potentially sizeable losses within your business.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

{CVCheck conducts police record checks and all other background checks across a wide range of industries.|CVCheck provides pre employment screening and verification services including police checks to many of Australia's leading organisations. |CVCheck works with many of Australia's major companies to provide screening and verification services including polic

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