| Four out of Five Employers Conduct Pre-Employment Screening. Do you? | Pre-employment screening is nearly commonplace today because employers recognize that the success of their businesses depends upon the quality and character of their employees. In fact, four of every five employers conduct pre-employment background checks on job applicants because pre-employment screens can help employers:  | Ensure that job applicants possess the experience and credentials that they claim to, and that are necessary to be effective in a particular position | | Protect assets and better control employee theft | | Ensure employees’ sense of security and peace of mind | | Enhance productivity | | Lower employee turnover | | Avoid workplace accidents | | Limit insurance cost increases | | Control absenteeism | | Contain healthcare costs | | Protect against negligent hiring lawsuits |
| Negligent Hiring Lawsuits on the Rise |
Another factor driving pre-employment screening is growing concern about violence in the workplace and the litigation that follows. A well-designed and consistently-executed employee screening program can offer employers additional protection from negligent hiring lawsuits. These suits typically allege that an employer hired or retained an individual with known violent tendencies, or that such tendencies should have been discovered through a reasonable background investigation, and that the employer then placed the individual in a position where he could pose a threat to others. An employer can point to a comprehensive pre-employment background check as evidence that it exercised proper due diligence. | 
