5 Business Benefits of Adding Online Screening for Workplace Misconduct Solutions to Your HR Tech Stack

Data points Talent Acquisition Leaders Can Use to Build their Business Case

In today's competitive job market, attracting and retaining top talent has become increasingly challenging for companies. With unemployment rates hovering around 3.5%, organizations are grappling with the need to staff their teams efficiently. 

One of the primary reasons employees leave their jobs is the company's culture, driven by concerns about mental and physical well-being. In order to foster safe and inclusive workplaces, which are critical for supporting employee health, organizations must address and prevent workplace misconduct effectively. 

Embracing innovative solutions, such as online screening for workplace misconduct, can offer significant advantages that align with the evolving times. In this article, we'll explore five key business benefits that talent acquisition leaders can reap by integrating online screening for workplace misconduct solutions into their HR tech stacks.

5 Benefits of Online Screening for Misconduct 

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Streamlining Processes and Creating Efficiencies

One of the main obstacles to hiring high-quality talent is the lengthy and cumbersome hiring process. Long hiring processes contribute to poor candidate experiences, which are a leading reason why 60% of job seekers have declined job offers. Hiring teams often face delays due to, in part, manual candidate screening procedures, leading to inefficiencies in the recruitment pipeline. According to a survey by Resume Builder, 3 in 4 hiring managers resort to evaluating candidates' social media profiles to assess their suitability. However, this approach is time-consuming, prone to mistakes, and may raise compliance concerns.

‍Online screening solutions can streamline the process by automating the search for relevant profiles and content. With candidates maintaining numerous online profiles across various platforms, the task of identifying pertinent information can be overwhelming. Automated tools facilitate the identification of candidate profiles, content analysis, and legal judgment calls, saving valuable time and ensuring compliance with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidelines. This improved efficiency not only accelerates the hiring process but also ensures that the right candidates are considered while adhering to legal standards.

Enhancing Employee Experiences

A workplace culture marred by misconduct can have severe consequences for employee morale and productivity. Research on The State of Misconduct at Work reports that 11% of candidates engage in misconduct, more than double the 5% threshold of safe levels of misconduct. The research shows that when misconduct occurs, employees might either leave the organization or become susceptible to engaging in misconduct themselves. The negative impact is profound, with Cornerstone OnDemand reporting that 5% of employees involved in misconduct result in 30 to 40% drops in productivity and a 54% increase in the likelihood of top performers leaving the company.

Harvard Business research reinforces the contagious nature of misconduct, indicating that it has a social multiplier effect. The data showed “financial advisors are 37% more likely to commit misconduct if they encounter a new co-worker with a history of misconduct.” Integrating online screening solutions helps prevent the entry of candidates with a history of misconduct, ultimately creating a healthier and more productive work environment.

Supporting Existing Employees

Employees seek pride and fulfillment in the organizations they work for. However, ongoing misconduct or scandals can significantly tarnish a company's reputation and erode employee satisfaction. Employees are hesitant to remain in or join organizations plagued by harassment, violence, or intolerance. Misconduct also increases stress levels among employees, impacting their mental and physical well-being. By screening for misconduct during the hiring process, companies demonstrate their commitment to safeguarding their employees' health and promoting a positive work environment.

Harassment, intolerance, and sexual misconduct are prevalent forms of workplace misconduct that directly affect employee experiences. Through online screening, organizations can actively identify candidates with histories of misconduct, thereby minimizing the likelihood of such incidents occurring within the workplace.

Reducing Costs

Workplace misconduct carries a hefty financial burden, resulting in trillions of dollars in losses annually. Occupational fraud alone accounts for 5% of global annual revenues, while racial discrimination and injustice cost companies $172 billion in attrition and productivity losses over five years. Harassment, a widespread form of misconduct, incurs costs ranging from $300 to $1,000 per employee per year. The financial implications extend to toxic employees engaging in misconduct, costing approximately $1.3 million annually for a company of 1,000 employees due to reduced productivity and employee attrition alone.

Preventing misconduct from occurring is a more cost-effective approach than addressing its consequences. By integrating online screening solutions, organizations can mitigate the risk of misconduct-related costs, creating a more financially stable and productive work environment.

Improving Safety and Security

A sense of safety is crucial for employees to thrive in their workplace. However, when coworkers engage in violence, harassment, threats, or bigotry, the workplace environment becomes hostile and unsafe. Traditional background checks are valuable, but they might overlook essential risk factors that aren’t recorded in the criminal justice system. For example, criminal background checks will only return results in specific jurisdictions that the employer specifically screens, meaning that crimes committed in a locality that isn’t screened won’t be found. Because more people live more of their lives online than the criminal justice system can keep up with, the chances of finding misconduct online is higher than one-off searches. To comprehensively assess the risk posed by new hires, organizations must extend their screening efforts to encompass online behavior, where candidates often reveal their true selves.

While many industries are slow to adopt new solutions that align with evolving times, the importance of enhanced screening is evident in industries with the lowest rates of misconduct. Fama’s recent research found that the only two industries that successfully mitigated misconduct to safe levels below the 5% threshold were the two industries that are highly regulated to conduct comprehensive candidate screenings to protect themselves and their employees. Given that 11% of candidates engage in misconduct, surpassing safe levels, adopting online screening solutions becomes paramount.

Conclusion

Today's talent acquisition teams face a multitude of challenges as they strive to attract and retain exceptional talent in a competitive landscape. By embracing online screening for workplace misconduct solutions, these teams can revolutionize their processes, enhance employee experiences, support existing staff, reduce costs, and create safe, inclusive, and high-performing workplaces. As organizations adapt to the evolving demands of the modern workforce, integrating innovative technologies like online screening solutions becomes an imperative step towards a brighter future for both employees and employers.

For companies that want to assess risk factors, this short quiz offers a great starting point. Take it now. 

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