Hiring and retaining good employees is a topic many business owners struggle with daily. Do we need to offer higher wages, better benefits, or more flexible hours? These are important questions to ask in relationship to the potential employee, but what about to protect the current employees and the stability of the company? A quality pre-hiring program can be very beneficial to help provide a safe and enjoyable workplace. It also can have a large impact on your insurance costs. Below is a list of possible procedures that can be tailored for your business to assist in this process.
First, create a hiring checklist to make sure you don’t miss any part of the procedure. Many times, the different parts of the hiring process are divided between multiple people within an organization, so by having a checklist, you can ensure nothing is missed.
Start with having a consent form signed by the applicant to allow you to do reference, background, and drug/alcohol screening. This helps protect you down the road if you find information that results in not hiring a person. After the consent is signed, begin by doing reference checking. Past performance can be very indicative of future performance. Human Resources departments are sending out more written requests to check with references. This allows for control of the information and in what form it’s received; it also allows for specific questions to be asked and recorded.
Next, work with a local medical facility to administer the proper drug and alcohol screening. Outside firms will take the liability off your shoulders. The background checks can go very deep, depending on the nature of the position. Some of the recommended reports that directly relate to insurance would be a motor vehicle report, workman compensation history report, and criminal background check—especially a search for sex offenders.
Education verification also is important. Many organizations never check to see if a person truly attended a school listed on an application. The most recent surveys say one in three job applicants exaggerate or embellish his or her background. It’s nice to know we have services that are very affordable to have a higher probability of stability with a new hire. The combination of the reports listed above typically costs under $100.
As you hire new employees, remember the above information. Contact your local insurance professional to assist your company with the best method to go about a review of your hiring procedure that may help lower your business insurance costs. IBI