Pre-employment screening

Integrity checks on applicants

Benefits for the company and its staff

• Protection against applicants who have deliberately made false statements about themselves during the application stage.
• Protection against candidates who are unsuitable for positions of trust.
• Protection against the infiltration of organised crime groups or radical, extremist or terrorist organisations or groups, or of intelligence services, into key functions within the company.
• Protection against potential damage to the company’s reputation.
• Demonstrating a sense of responsibility towards customers, business partners and staff.

Reasons for professional pre-employment screening

• Before signing, lawyers on both sides rightly scrutinise the employment contract thoroughly and charge a corresponding fee for this. However, the focus is solely on legal and formal aspects, and not on the question of with whom the contract is being concluded! Even a flawless employment contract is of little use, however, if the person with whom you are entering into it lacks integrity.
• Reputational damage caused by negative media coverage in print media, on TV, on the radio or on social media as a result of employee misconduct can very quickly lead to significant financial losses for the company. Loss of revenue and the termination of business relationships due to business partners’ compliance regulations, as well as the cost of restoring the company’s reputation, can quickly mount up. Screening a candidate for integrity can prevent unpleasant surprises. In many cases, investigations into such incidents reveal that the person responsible has behaved inappropriately in the past as well.
• The damage caused by the leakage of information from a company by a disloyal or criminal employee can be enormous, not only in research and development or the technology sector, but across all areas involving sensitive company data. In addition to the financial loss resulting from lost turnover, profits, etc., the damage to the company’s reputation is often the more serious consequence. In some circumstances, the behaviour of employees may also result in criminal consequences for those in charge of the company. Here, too, screening a candidate for integrity can prevent unpleasant surprises. Professional pre-employment screening can identify indications of close contact with competitors or even with intelligence services, as well as potential vulnerability to blackmail due to personal weaknesses.
• The liability risk for managers in connection with the recruitment of staff must not be underestimated under any circumstances. As part of their duty of care, company officials (both those directly responsible, such as the head of human resources, and governing bodies such as the executive board and supervisory board) must prevent or avert damage to the company. This duty is fulfilled through professional pre-employment screening. Investigations into incidents often reveal that the employee in question has exhibited similar behaviour in the past, or that a previous employment relationship may even have been terminated due to the same misconduct. In such cases, it is naturally reasonable to conclude that the damage to the company could have been avoided had a background check been carried out prior to recruitment. In that case, the employee would not have been hired in the first place. From this logical line of reasoning, realistic liability and compensation scenarios can be deduced – with corresponding risks extending into the private lives of those responsible.