In today’s work environment, employers are realizing the need to conduct accurate background checks on potential employees. What we have seen is that employers do not necessarily get “rattled” when they receive an adverse background report on an applicant. What matters to the employers the most is – knowing about it!

Certainly, employers would be concerned about things like; sex offenses, robbery, stealing or acts of violence, but they want to know about it. They want to know about drug offenses and how many someone had over what period of time. They want to know how many DUI’s some had and do they have a valid driver’s license? They want to know if an applicant who is saying they have a college degree – do they really have a college degree?

You see…, employers just want to know who they are bringing into their world with reasonable confidence that nothing bad will happen. They can deal with minor drug offenses, a DUI (except for commercial drivers) or even someone who had financial difficulties in their past. Employers want a productive and reliable workforce. If someone has an adverse background, it doesn’t necessarily disqualify them from becoming a part of the workforce.

When you think about it, an employer who knows about one’s background – even when the background is not so good – tends to bring about more trust and loyalty from the employee towards their employer.

Imagine a person being hired after their boss learned from a background check that the employee had a couple of minor drug charges or a bad credit report; yet, was given the opportunity for employment. The employee, I suspect, would be appreciative and would want to demonstrate to their new employer that they can be a valued employee. Imagine the reverse; wherein, the employer failed to conduct a background only to learn later that their employee had adverse information in their background and would cause the employer to look upon the employee in a different light.

As an employer, wouldn’t you want to have the information necessary to make an informed decision when hiring someone? Not knowing – as many Court cases have shown – could have adverse legal and financial consequences to your business.

“Not to know is bad; not to wish to know is worse.”
― African Proverb