Like most other aspects of your business, employment screening must stay nimble and adaptive in order to keep pace with the evolving demands of the marketplace. Every year, new problems and possibilities arise in the screening industry that could affect your bottom line. As such, it pays to keep informed on the best breakthroughs in the industry as well as what prompted them.
In many ways, 2018 has been a challenging year for employers and hiring managers. A falling unemployment rate coupled with relatively slow growth has made it more difficult for many businesses to compete for top talent than at any time in recent memory. The trickle-down effects of new tariffs and uncertain trade agreements have yet to be seen, in most cases. Fortunately, employers can still position themselves for competitive success in hiring by optimizing their employment practices to account for some of the most important trends of the year.
Across the USA, KRESS helps employers large and small make the best-informed hiring decisions possible. Our automated screening systems make it easy to maintain compliance with all relevant laws and regulations. If optimization of your pre-employment processes is a priority for your company in 2018, give us a call today at 888.636.3693.
Some of the trends you may wish to discuss with us are as follows:
1. Millennials expanding in workforce are making background checks more applicant-friendly.
The fact that technology-savvy Millennials have overtaken Baby Boomers as the largest segment of the U.S. workforce is significant in many ways. They are the most technically savvy generation to enter the workplace after having grown up with computers and technology in some form since birth. While they expect technology to make pre-employment processing faster and easier, Millennials are also keenly aware of how personal data can be used and abused by employers. For this reason, built-in automation with a “humanizing” approach to hiring can help employers attract more Millennials to job openings.
2. More advanced drug testing for opiates is coming.
By now, everyone is aware that opioid drugs are a problem across America, making it much more difficult to find clean job candidates in some regions and industries. Unfortunately, employers hoping to avoid hiring opioid-addicted workers through workplace drug testing may not be detecting the most abused prescription drugs as part of their current substance abuse testing program. Many drug test programs encompass a standard 5, 9, or 10 panel test, which does not include synthetic and semi-synthetic opiates like oxycodone, hydrocodone, and hydromorphone. With opioid abuse costing U.S. businesses millions, look for that to change.
3. Local ban-the-box laws will be challenged.
30 states and more than 150 cities and counties in America have passed ban-the-box laws that remove questions about criminal history from job applications and delay such inquiries until later in the hiring process. The fact that employers must deal with multiple overlapping local and statewide ban-the-box laws is likely untenable. Expect numerous legal challenges to such laws to come.
4. Personal data security by pre-employment screening firms is becoming a critical issue.
Large-scale, high-profile breaches in data security at firms such as Equifax have made it clear that hackers are targeting large databases of highly sensitive personal information—and succeeding. The problem isn’t going away, which is why top-tier pre-employment screening services such as KRESS are making data security a major priority in 2018. To avoid any potential liability following a breach, ensure now that your screening service provider is doing all they can to safeguard against such an attack.
5. Calls to make E-Verify mandatory for employers will increase.
It’s no secret that the federal government is cracking down on immigration in any way that they can. That means increased scrutiny on employers who rely on foreign-born workers. One of the ways this manifests in 2018 is in the increasing momentum behind making E-Verify mandatory for all U.S. employers. E-Verify is an electronic employment eligibility verification system designed to ensure the workers you hire are legally eligible to work in the United States. KRESS makes it easy by performing E-Verify for you!
Is your business prepared to contend with the top pre-employment screening trends of 2018? If not, the time to act is now. Contact KRESS today to ensure that your business does not face undue risk of legal liability due to non-compliance with employment laws. Call us for a consultation at 888.636.3693 and we’ll help ensure that your company stays ahead of the trends, not behind them.