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16 www.ohiorestaurant.org Spring Issue

1. Hiring is Coming Back Into Your Life

Following several years of stagnation in the market place, it appears that hiring is slowing ticking back to life. According to a national survey of chief fnancial offcers by Bank of America, approximately 47 percent of companies with sales between $25 million - $2 billion plan to expand their workforce this year. Additionally, Manpower’s Employment Outlook Survey predicts modest employment growth for 2011, noting that the seasonally adjusted Net Employment Outlook, which represents the percentage of employers who intend to hire rather than reduce staff stands at +9 percent. This fgure is up from +5 percent a year ago and up +4 percent for the fourth quarter of 2010.

Despite these upticks, chances are you’ve likely not evaluated your employment screening policies or vendors in the past two years. Now is the time. By ensuring that your hiring processes and resources are current, you can strengthen your competitive edge and hire the best available talent for your operation.

2. Capture Competitive Costs

Due to the economic downturn over the past several years, human resource service providers have faced operating diffculties. Because their clients have been hiring less, they have not been able to invest as much in their operations. However, with the economy improving, those remaining human resource providers are looking at ways to attract new clients like you by offering reduced pricing or through new, innovative hiring procedures. As these companies seek out ways to balance their increasing administrative costs, they will also be looking at ways they can balance their budgets. This could mean that they begin offering companies more competitive rates for employment-related services, such as background screening, staffng and human resource information system software upgrades.

3. Changes in the Legal Landscape

During the recent employment lull, some signifcant developments have occurred that you, as an employer, need to be aware of as you begin to expand your staff. These changes include the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s aggressive action towards conducting employment background checks and new legislation and litigation that deter employers from conducting employment credit checks.

The EEOC has increased their scrutiny of hiring practices, which exposes employers to a greater threat of discrimination lawsuits. The EEOC is especially targeting “bright line” hiring decisions that automatically exclude candidates with criminal records; arrest records that did not result in a conviction; and/or poor credit. Should adverse information surface, employers must now consider the offense’s severity; when the offense occurred; whether the person is a repeat offender; and, most importantly, how closely it relates to the job for which the applicant is applying.

With regard to the use of employment credit reports, a number of states have passed legislation to deter the use of a candidate’s personal credit history in

the background screening process. Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Illinois have passed legislation that restricts the use of this information. Additionally, similar legislation has been proposed in nearly 20 other states. An effort at the federal level is also being considered. A number of existing laws already provide protection for job candidates, but credit checks are becoming a hot button issue and the controversy only looks to intensify. If your company is using credit reports, it’s important that you do so permissibly. You should review the processes in which they are used, including who has access to the order; who reviews them; and when and why they are the accessed. Now is the time to examine what steps you need to take to ensure that your processes ensure compliance and minimize your company’s liability.

4. Evolving Best Practices, Advances in Resources

Mandated screening for temporary and contracted workers continues to grow and with good reason. According to multiple surveys, more employers are using temporary and contract staffng as they seek out more options for workforce fexibility. Since September 2009, employment in temporary help services rose as much 494,000, a fgure that continues to climb, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This means as employers utilize more contingent staffng, they must take measures to verify appropriate screening measures are in place. While it is not uncommon for temporary staffng agencies to perform background checks, these checks can often be quite minimal in scope. Employers that utilize temporary agencies and/or contract workers need to apply the same screening processes for both their contingent and permanent staff.

Additionally, the use of criminal database searches has come under fre by critics. However, as database tools evolve, they are becoming more widely adopted as a cost effective resource in employment screening. Yet, it’s important to proceed cautiously when using them. Although most reputable screening providers have access to data resources, they continue to stress the importance of manual investigation within court fles. Most experienced screening frms only recommend the use of database searches as a supplement to manual investigation of court records. There is no true national criminal database available and no database records are kept in real-time. This means that the effectiveness of database searches are limited. But, their use can sometimes uncover records that would have been missed in a manual search, such as a candidate’s conviction in a neighboring state or county not identifed in their residence history.

As you consider tweaking your methods, talk to vendors about data tools available and how they can help broaden your reach without escalating costs. It’s important to note that if you receive your results instantly or within 24 hours, it’s likely your vendor is using a criminal database, which most reputable providers do not endorse as stand-alone procedures. It’s important you understand the source your vendors uses and included and how frequently those records are updated.

5 Reasons Why You Should Re-Evaluate

Your Background Screening Practices

Before you expand your staff, it’s important to take precautionary measures that protect you and your current employees