You already have a lot to worry about when it comes to building your small business — we get it. So don’t add more work to your future by skipping a vital step: background checks. Background checks are an important part of building a secure business, no matter how small.
The best part? You can keep background checks on autopilot (aka in the background) while you focus on other day to day priorities thanks to Certn’s fast and easy-to-use online platform.
Read on to learn more about small business background screening.
Small Business Background Screening
Companies have a duty of care to protect staff and customers from employees they knew, or should’ve known, pose a risk. By checking the criminal history of job applicants with a background check, small business owners can help know who they’re hiring. Small business background screening can help prevent workplace violence and other safety hazards. This is why 94% of businesses report they conduct at least some type of background check on job applicants.
Background checks also help small businesses:
- Secure business assets, including data;
- Protect their reputation and brand identity;
- Build client trust;
- Keep investors assured; and
- Establish a standard hiring policy.
Most of all: background checks help business owners like you ensure you’re making an informed decision to avoid costly re-hiring. Talk about peace of mind!
The G2 Winter 2023 Report named Certn a High Performer in the Small Business category for Background Check Software so you can be assured that we know how to serve small business background screening. That's right, small business background screening is kind of our thing!
Find out more about Certn's self-serve background check option and small business background screening.
Secure Your Assets
If you were purchasing a company vehicle, you’d likely research reliability and safety reports as well as review the repair history. Human capital is your most important and expensive asset, so why wouldn't you follow a similar review process by doing small business background screening?
Working for a small business usually means closer proximity to accounts and confidential information because there are fewer employees to manage the workloads and employees may wear multiple hats. For this reason, studies suggest small businesses are more sensitive to fraud, theft, mismanagement of funds, and even blatant misconduct. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiner’s 2022 Report to the Nations, businesses with the fewest employees in 2021 reported the highest median losses from internal thefts and fraud of $150,000. PwC’s Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey 2022 states that 52% of all fraud is carried out by people inside the organization.
Conducting a background check on employees is one way to mitigate risks to your assets. For example, if an applicant has a history of theft or financial fraud, background checks can reveal this information, and then you can choose whether to hire the applicant and/or ensure the appropriate actions to protect assets are in place.
Protect Your Reputation
We’ve all read viral stories of businesses not doing their due diligence and facing public relations crises or legal action when an employee’s actions result in some kind of unfortunate loss or harm. While it might be possible to recover, it’s best for everyone to avoid these situations before they happen. A background check can help.
By conducting a background check on all employees, you'll be alerted of their criminal history and can be proactive about ensuring your business isn’t at risk. Aside from financial losses, issues that compromise your company’s reputation or brand identity can also turn off potential or future customers or investors. If you’re a small business owner with aspirations of growing, you likely don't want to be associated with anything potentially damaging.
If you’re a Canadian employer or operating in a jurisdiction that permits it, you can even take background screening one step further by conducting a public records search, which searches over 200,000 public databases such as social media accounts, sex offender registries, fraud lists, and more for an additional peace of mind.
Building a Trusting Relationship With Clients
Whether it's a mailing list or credit card information, your clients are trusting you to keep their personal information secure. Make sure you’re doing your best to protect their sensitive data by requesting a background check before hiring employees. It could be both a legal nightmare and a public relations ordeal should anything happen.
According to a survey by PwC, 44% of consumers said they had stopped buying from a company due to a lack of trust. Overall, as the saying goes, it’s much easier to lose trust than to gain it. We believe it's better to be proactive in maintaining customer trust through a standard small business background screening policy that involves background checks.
Good Investor Relations
Whether you’ve secured early funding or are in the process of acquiring investors, background checks can be a valuable tool to assure investors. When considering investing in a company, investors want to know that the company is well-managed and that its employees are trustworthy. Having a background check process in place that mitigates legal risks and protects your assets allows investors to understand how you've protected your business against foreseeable risks.
A small business background screening program with pre-employment background checks can also help maintain good investor relations by providing investors with information about the people they’re investing in or considering investing in. This information can help investors make more informed decisions and can help them feel more confident and secure in their investments.
For example, if a company is considering hiring a new CEO, a background check can provide information about the individual's previous employment history, education, and criminal record, if any. This can help investors feel more confident in the company's leadership and can help them make more informed decisions about whether to continue investing in the company.
How to Make Hiring Process Better
Hiring the wrong person for the job can, at best, lead to costly time gaps and re-hiring processes. If you’re expecting to grow your business, it’s sensible to develop practices and policies when screening and interviewing new applicants.
Standardizing your hiring process with background checks has a number of benefits. First, it can help ensure that all job candidates are treated fairly and consistently. By following a set process for every candidate, you can avoid making decisions based on bias or favouritism, and ensure that each candidate has the same opportunity to impress you and show why they’re the best fit for the job.
Additionally, a standardized hiring process can also help to improve your employer brand and reputation. By consistently providing a positive and professional experience to job candidates, you can create a positive impression of your company and attract top talent to your company.
Finally, a standardized hiring process can also make the process more efficient and effective. By having a clear set of steps to follow, you can avoid wasting time on unproductive tasks and focus on the most important aspects of the hiring process. This can help you make faster and better hiring decisions, and ultimately improve the quality of your workforce. Speaking of being more efficient and effective, this is where online background checks can help.
How to Do a Pre-Employment Background Check
At Certn, we keep things simple with online background checks. This means no waiting in lines at the post office or police station, and no complicated instructions that leave you or your candidates confused.
The traditional method of requesting a pre-employment background check could require your candidate to present at a local police station. On top of the time it takes for them to actually go in person, it can take days, or even weeks, to receive results. According to LinkedIn, the best candidates are off the market in 10 days. So you really need to be fast to get the top talent you want.
With Certn, everything is done online. Our background check process is completely automated and our easy-to-use platform helps you easily track candidates’ progress in one dashboard. We’re also integrated with many applicant tracking systems if you use an ATS or other hiring platform. It’s literally made to make your life easier while you stay compliant and protect your business.
You also only pay for the background check you conduct, which we know offers the kind of flexibility that small businesses usually appreciate.
Overall, using background checks can provide small business owners with important information that can help them make safer, more informed hiring decisions. This can benefit both the business and its employees and customers.
Ready to run Certn background checks for your small business hiring? Book a demo to talk to one of our background check experts about a small business background screening program or get started for free.
