Posted by Amy Wall on Tue, Sep 08, 2009 @ 11:50 AM
The current debate taking place in the California State legislature over
proposed cuts in the State's prison system could have a potentially negative impact for businesses across the State. The plan sitting before State lawmakers would reduce prison overcrowding by taking about 30,000 inmates out of the system in order to reduce costs.
One of the many concerns with this plan is that California has one of the highest recidivism rates in the nation, and 70% of all California inmates re-offend after their release. The major problem this poses for business employers throughout the State is there could soon be a huge influx of parolees looking for work, and companies will need to be more careful about conducting pre-employment background screenings in order to really know who it is they are actually hiring.
Nearly every company is concerned about providing its employees with a safe and secure work place, and will do what's necessary to ensure it's intellectual property and other assets don't walk out the door. For this reason, pre-employment background screenings are the first and most critical step a company can take to avoid a potentially disastrous situation from occurring as a result of hiring the "wrong" employee.
Case in point, recently a client hired CSC to protect them against an employee they laid off who began making security threats after he was let go. CSC was needed to conduct surveillance operations and provide executive protection services for several weeks, which cost the company tens of thousands of dollars. During the course of our investigation, CSC learned the former employee had an existing criminal record, and had the company pre-screened this employee with a thorough background check prior to hiring him, the company could have avoided the costly security protection it required.
Companies looking to hire new employees or contractors, especially in the event California passes the proposed prison system plan, should learn from the experiences of this CSC client. By investing in a pre-employment background screening program, businesses can minimize risks of employee theft, misappropriation, criminal activity and violence in various work place scenarios, while also minimizing negligent hiring lawsuits down the road. Because once the "wrong" employee has been hired, the cost and pain of terminating that employee is often quite considerable.