During the Coronavirus pandemic, many employees shifted to work-from-home options. And according to an October 2020 Gallup update, 33% of U.S. workers are still working remotely. So, if your people aren’t on-site, are background checks, and records check still necessary?

The answer is YES! Your organization should conduct background screening on remote employees. Here’s why.

Top Reasons to Run Records Checks on Remote Employees

You Want a Qualified Workforce

Just like on-site employees, remote workers could lie on their resumes. In fact, in a recent survey, 78% of candidates admitted they did or would consider misrepresenting themselves on their application. Plus, to complicate matters, remote employees often have less supervision than their on-site counterparts. Therefore, if they are underqualified or making mistakes, it may be weeks or months before you notice. As a result, properly screening your remote workforce maybe even more important. A professional background screening company can help you verify your team’s educational credentials, professional certifications, and employment history. So, wherever your people are, you’ll know they have the right skill set to get the job done.

You Need to Treat Everyone Fairly

Conducting records checks on some employees but not others could get you into trouble with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC enforces laws that make it illegal to discriminate against job applicants or employees based on personal characteristics. These characteristics include race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age (40 or older), and disability or genetic information. For example, in 2019, Dollar General paid $6 million to settle a discrimination lawsuit brought by the EEOC. They were found guilty of violating federal equal opportunity laws by applying more rigorous background check standards to African American candidates. Although remote workers usually don’t fall into a specific category, you can imagine how non-standard background checks might become problematic. What if more of your remote workers are women? Caucasian? Or of a higher social, economic class? Overall, the best policy is to apply the same screening policies to ALL employees automatically.

You Should Protect Your Brand

If one of your workers commits a crime on company time, it doesn’t matter where they are located. Any such incident could make your organization look bad. This especially is true if you should have known there was a risk. By exercising due diligence with background checks, you can identify potential issues before something more serious occurs. Criminal record and sex offender registry searches are standard precautions. However, depending on the nature of your business, you also may decide to request motor vehicle record searches and credit reports.

Is Your Company Interested in Running Records Checks on Remote Employees in WNY?

Metrodata Services is Western New York’s leading pre-employment screening service. We can help your organization conduct background checks on on-site, remote, and contract workers. Learn more about all the records check services we offer today!