Businesses Are Doing More Screenings: A Look at First Advantage’s 2020 Research

First Advantage has just released a report of the findings of their 2020 research into screening trends. The report highlights five trends that are growing, including the revelation that businesses are expanding the ways in which they screen their employees. This research is aimed at helping businesses of all types and sizes benchmark their screening procedures, practices and methods. The findings and conclusions contained in their report are aggregated from First Advantage’s 2019 search information.

Criminal Checks Are on the Rise

One of the areas the report focuses on is the growth of criminal background checks across various regions. In their research, they pinpoint the USA and India as countries where the number of criminal background checks rose in 2019. That said, their report is clear in the fact that criminal checks increased globally in the same period. Transportation saw a 27% growth, retail was next at 24%, with healthcare closing out the top three with a 15% growth. It is understandable why there was growth in these three areas as they are all areas where people who have criminal inclinations could do a lot of harm.

Social Screening Is Growing Too

Social screening is used by companies to understand who their employees are outside of work. Social screening uses social media to get a snapshot into someone’s life and can be used in hiring and firing decisions. Respondents in one survey said they use it with others saying they plan to enable and use it in 2020.

Drug Screening Trends Are Changing

Besides social screening, companies are also doing a lot more drug-related background checks. Using services such as those provided by One Source, companies can do company background checks that reveal if a potential hire has any on-the-job drug-related issues in their past. One Source background checks are thorough, comprehensive, and complete, which would make them the perfect addition to a company’s screening tools.

Companies acknowledge that it is not enough to look into someone’s past, and that is why drug screening trends are changing too. Increasingly, companies are turning to saliva-based tests and moving away from urine-based tests. However, urine-based tests still remain an important testing tool, and that is why the gap between it and other ways of testing for drugs still remains as wide as it is.

Limiting Risk

Tom Ellis, First Advantage Senior Vice President of Operations, says that companies want to know who is on their payrolls more than they have ever before. They do this as a way of limiting risks to their businesses and operations. Companies want a fast turnaround, so they can make decisions faster. More thorough searches and insights help them to make the best decisions for their businesses.

The Report’s Release

The trends from this report are slated to be released on June 25, 2020. Due to the ongoing global crisis, the report, as well as the trends it reveals, will be released in a webinar. The release will be headed by the First Advantage Sigma team that came up with the report.

The webinar will go further than revealing the contents of the report as it will also incorporate data from other sources such as Product Insight and the State of the Industry.

Those interested in attending the webinar can find more information on First Advantage’s website.

What Does This Report Reveal?

The contents of this report are interesting because they confirm what many people have known all along; that companies need to know all they need to about their employees so as to have some legal protection in case something goes wrong.

It also reveals that companies care a lot about who they hire, considering they are doing many more social screenings than ever before.

Sadly, the report also reveals that employees are losing their privacy and have little say as to when and how companies can screen them. The increased number of screenings, as well as the changes in the way companies screen their employees, show that there is a dangerous precedent being set. On the other hand, these searches are usually included in employee contracts, so there might not be too much to glean from that information.

If You Are Interested in the Report

First Advantage has made a complimentary copy of this report available on its website. Anyone can download and view it, but to put it into a better context, it would be better to attend the webinar so that you can have an all-round understanding of all the data used to come up with this report.

First Advantage’s report gives us a deeper understanding of what businesses are doing to ensure they have only the best employees on their payrolls. It also reveals that if these trends continue, businesses might cross a line and start invading people’s privacy.