Background screening is an ever-evolving industry where new trends emerge constantly. The 5th Industry Survey commissioned by the Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA) sheds light on five current trends every business owner should know
Background Screening Is Popular All Around the World (But More So in the U.S.)
The study commissioned by the PBSA reveals some interesting numbers about the widespread utilization of background screening.
One of the questions included in the survey was “Does your organization conduct some type of employment background screening?” The vast majority of companies with at least one U.S. location (95%) answered “yes,” with slightly lower figures for companies with non-U.S. locations (79%), bringing the average number to 76%.
Fittingly, the survey also shows that companies with U.S. Locations are more likely to use background screening than companies with no U.S locations (91% against 79% in the case of full-time employees).
Protecting Company Reputation and Increasing the Quality of Hires Are More Important Than Ever
Organizations screen current and potential employees for a variety of reasons, but the PSBA survey helps pinpoint the three most compelling factors driving background screening implementation:
- Protect employees and customers (76%)
- Improve the quality of hires (52%)
- Protect company reputation (41%)
It’s worth noting that for the first time in the five annual editions of this study, protecting company reputation is among the most important reasons to conduct background screening, relegating legal and regulatory requirements out of the top three
Also of note is the fact that for companies with non-U.S. locations, improving the quality of hires is the main motivator to conduct background screening checks (61%).
Criminal Background Checks Are More Popular in the U.S.
While background screening is popular with companies from all around the world (see the first point on this list), there are some differences in the preferences of companies with at least one U.S. location, compared with companies with no presence in the U.S.
Criminal checks are almost 20% most common than non-criminal background checks among companies with U.S. locations (94% and 75% respectively). By contrast, companies with no U.S. locations seem to prefer non-criminal over criminal background checks (79% against 75%).
Social Media: the New Frontier of Background Screening
The PBSA survey bears out a reality observed on the ground: social media background screening is gaining importance all around the world.
While the way background screening is used may differ slightly between companies with at least one U.S. location and those with no U.S. locations, one of the trends common to all countries is the importance attached to social media background screening.
Companies in both sets of countries see social media as their first choice to expand their background screening efforts, with companies with no U.S. locations showing greater interest (36%) than companies with locations in the U.S. (14%).
International Background Screening Is Key
The survey also highlights the growing importance of international background screening capabilities. Regardless of location, 72% of all companies considered in the study think that it is important to have access to this type of information. Also, 33% of all companies report that over the next five years they expect to hire employees who live or have lived abroad.
With an increasingly distributed workforce and remote work becoming commonplace due to the COVI-19 pandemic, international background screening is set to become a vital component of the screening strategy of companies everywhere.
Conclusions
Some basic conclusions can be drawn from the latest PSBA survey:
- Background screening checks are popular everywhere, but they are a de facto must for companies that do business in the U.S.
- The above means that you own a business in the U.S. and are not conducting background screening checks, your competitors are already ahead of you.
- While companies with locations in the U.S. see safety as the main reason to conduct background screening, ensuring the quality of hires and protecting organizational reputation are also powerful motivators.
- International background screening and social media background screening are the two trends that will set the pace for the background screening industry in the short and medium term.
In short, background screening is a vital tool to meet the challenges of a global workforce where quality and safety can make the difference between success and stagnation.
To read the full PBSA survey, click here.
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