TM - August 2008 - (Page 17)

give the major academic institution dealing with resume falsiﬁcation or a global beverage company tracking down trade-secret thieves, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of less newsworthy companies struggling with the same issues. As a result, background screening has been gaining ground globally, not only with U.S. multinationals changing talent recruiting and veriﬁcation practices in the wake of Sept. 11, but also with locally based companies striving to reduce the high costs of turnover in a business environment growing more competitive and resource strained by the day. Further, the proliferation of business process outsourcing (BPO) has driven the demand for international screening practices that mirror those of U.S. companies for which BPO ﬁrms provide service. As the marketplace for products and services becomes more global, the challenge of assessing and evaluating candidates from a worldwide labor pool has become more pronounced than ever. Traditionally utilized primarily in the IT, insurance and investment banking industries — or those in which data security always has been requisite for sustained operations — screening now is being taken up by new industries, particularly manufacturing, retail, petrochemicals, aviation, the oil and gas sectors, and others that attract highly diverse and mobile applicant groups. Companies in those industries are gradually awakening to the broad array of negative consequences associated with inadequate background screening including: • Higher potential for legal liabilities associated with negligent hiring. • Higher staff turnover. • Higher recruitment and training costs. • Increased loss of clients. • Increased risk of fraud/theft of proprietary information. • Low employee morale. • Unqualiﬁed and incompetent staff members. • Low productivity. • Disruptive and dangerous staff members. A Growing Need and a Narrowing Margin for Error As business has grown more global and screening more mission critical, legislation of workforce eligibility and privacy requirements has grown more complex. Not only are laws changing at breakneck speed, but oversight is more rigorous, and the consequences of being out of compliance with prevailing statutes are higher than ever. Many companies feel the current environment has left them with the narrowest margins for error. When talent managers fail to screen adequately, they increase their organizations’ potential for fraud, liability, security breaches and, ultimately, increase reputation-related risks. If talent managers fail to understand and abide by local privacy and eligibility laws, organizations risk lawsuits and ﬁnes. It can seem like a lose-lose situation to any company trying to grow globally. When talent managers fail to screen adequately, they increase their organizations’ potential for fraud, liability, security breaches and, ultimately, increase reputation-related risks. To complicate an already complex situation, local privacy legislation varies from country to country, presenting an immense challenge to effective, thorough and consistent screening practices. While many countries — such as Australia, Hong Kong and those making up the European Union — have legislation clarifying which information companies can check, the waters in other countries are far murkier and more turbulent to navigate. In Korea, for example, many laws pertaining to pre-employment screening are unspeciﬁc at best, and in Vietnam, legislation is nonexistent. Similarly, the information on candidates’ backgrounds that is available to employers differs from country to country. Employers must be aware of what is legally obtainable in all the countries they are recruiting in or work with background screening vendors that know this information cold and work accordingly. An increasingly common challenge is the inordinately large number of U.S.-based screening vendors that offer criminal checks for all countries throughout Asia Paciﬁc. Yet, it is not legal to check criminal backgrounds in Hong Kong, for example. Therefore, those companies that offer this information may be obtaining it illegally. August 2008 talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com 17 http://www.talentmgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of TM - August 2008

TM - August 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Human Performance Leading Edge Foundations Global Background Screening Does Global Assessment Work? Global Total Renumeration: Creat One Organization Border Insecurity: Immigration Reform and Talent Management The Global Workforce: Communication Across Cultures Around the World in How Many Days? Insight: Exelon: Performance Under Pressure Special Report: Perspectives on Managing People Application: Reinventing Sales Rewards at Motorola Dashboard: Mideast Meets West Dashboard: Mergers and Acquisitions 2008 - Don’t Leave Employees Behind Editorial Resources Advertisers' Index Full Potential

TM - August 2008

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