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President's Message
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by President and COO, Rich Henderson
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In this fast-paced business environment, it can be a challenge
to find enough time in your day to accomplish all of your tasks.
As a current OPENonline customer, you
are already familiar with our extensive menu of background screening
services. OPENonline has developed a
special employment screening tool that has been designed to assist
your busy HR Department - SelectHire®.
With SelectHire®,
OPENonline's skilled staff works with you
to customize a package that fits your company's hiring requirements,
and could include items such as employment and education verifications.
Ordering a report is easy. Simply enter the applicant information one
time, select the desired screening package from your company's customized
menu, and we do the rest! Our representatives, who are certified Safe
Hiring Specialists, perform the searches you need and return the results
quickly to you online in a summarized, concise, easy-to-read report.
You can be assured that our staff will go the extra mile to assist you
in making the best possible hiring decisions for your company. We have the
expertise to review the reports and notify you when applicants meet the
hiring criteria that you've identified.
This competitively priced service will not only save you time, but you
will be assured of consistency and compliance because you're using our
background screening experts.
If you'd like more information regarding
SelectHire®, please contact us at
800.935.6736 or by email at
info@openonline.com.
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OPENonline Customer Support Staff Earn Safe Hiring Certification
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OPENonline's Customer Support and Compliance staff has
gone back to school - to earn their Safe Hiring Certification.
This training is an essential professional development
certification for anyone with the responsibility for hiring
or screening. Graduates of this program learn skills that
minimize the risks due to negligent hiring and obtain the
knowledge necessary to implement an effective, legal Safe
Hiring Program.
This comprehensive course has been organized so that
individuals may develop the critical policies, practices and
procedures to implement a Safe Hiring Program in their
respective companies. Key concepts of the course include:
- Effective employment applications, interview processes,
and reference checks.
- Legal use of criminal records, credit reports, social
security traces, drug tests, education & credential
verification and other critical screening tools.
- Compliance with discrimination & privacy laws, the
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and state FCRA type
laws.
- Development of the skills needed to perform a
25-point Safe Hiring Audit on your own firm.
- Learn the issues required to select an effective
background screening company.
- Development of the skills needed to demonstrate
due diligence and minimize the legal risks and costs
related to poor hiring decisions.
Safe Hiring Certification is just another way that OPENonline
strives to provide the best possible service to its customers.
For more information about the Safe Hiring Certification process,
call our Customer Support Line at 800-366-0106 or email us at
customersupport@openonline.com.
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New Regulation Would Restrict SSN Use
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A new regulation proposed by the U.S. Office of Personnel
Management (OPM) would significantly restrict use of Social
Security numbers (SSNs) throughout the federal government as
a way to combat identity theft.
Some federal agencies have taken steps to reduce their use
of SSNs in certain functions, but there are inconsistent
approaches and standards that can lead to misuse of those
numbers, according to the OPM.
The proposed new regulation calls for:
- Added wording that restricts collection and use of
employee SSNs in employee records and human resources
information systems.
- Adding wording that requires special safeguards for
automated records.
- Restrictions on collecting and using SSNs would
include:
- Agencies would not use the SSN as an employee's
unique identifier in internal or external data
processing activities.
- Agencies must make sure SSNs are not printed,
such as on forms or reports, or displayed on computer
screens.
- Agencies must restrict access to SSN to those with
a legitimate business need for that information, and
maintain and regularly review a list of everyone who
has that access.
Efforts are under way to develop requirements for a new
government-wide employee identifier to replace the federal agencies'
use of Social Security numbers as their primary employee identifier
for business activities. The complete proposed regulation can be seen
in the Federal Register at
www.federalregister.gov.
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Trend Watch: Increased Screening of Temps, Independent Contractors
and Vendors
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A tightening labor market means that companies may increasingly
be hiring temporary, contingent or short-term employees. According
to the American Staffing Association, temporary or contract employees
make up 10 to 30 percent of the average workforce at U.S. companies
- a much larger percentage than it was a decade ago. Screening the
extended workforce is one of the five most important HR trends for
2008, according to a Staffing Management survey.
Industry statistics reported by the American Staffing Association
show that temporary workers are more than 50 percent likely than
full-time workers to have a felony or drug-related record. HR
Departments need to be just as diligent in ensuring that the backgrounds
of those employees are vetted as thoroughly as those of full-time
employees.
Some employers have well-thought out screening programs for their
employees, but routinely allow temporary workers, independent contractors
and vendors access to their premises, clients, or computer systems with no
idea of who they are. Employers need to examine their practices for
screening members of their extended workforce and vendors. Putting an
extended workforce screening policy in place that mirrors the one that
is used to screen the full-time workforce is the best way to ensure
that due diligence is performed on all employees - full-time or
temporary.
If you have questions about this or any other service, contact
OPENonline's Customer Support Department at 800-366-0106 or by email at
customersupport@openonline.com.
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Jury Awards $12 Million Verdict Against Apartment Owners for
Negligent Hiring
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A Los Angeles Superior Court jury recently awarded a $12 million
verdict against an apartment owner that hired a maintenance man
without first performing a background check. This maintenance
man then raped and murdered a 30-year old tenant. The maintenance
man was a convicted felon and a registered sex offender who was
given keys and access to all apartments in the complex. This
wrongful death case, brought by the victim's family, alleged that
the maintenance man was the perpetrator, and that a background
check would have revealed his criminal past.
This verdict underscores again the value of background checks
in protecting human life. The apartment owners could have easily
discovered this criminal record before any harm came to the other
employees and residents of the complex. By failing to exercise
due diligence in hiring, employers open themselves to this type of
negligent hiring lawsuit. The old adage, "An ounce of prevention is
worth a pound of cure" is relevant here.
If you haven't already done so, take a moment to review your
background screening program. Contact our Customer Support staff at
800.366.0106 or by email at
customersupport@openonline.com
if you have any questions or if you would like our assistance to
improve your existing program.
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Increased Red Flags Seen as More Background Screenings are Performed
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The percentage of "hits" or "red flags", showing up in background
checks is increasing as more companies are opting to conduct more
complete background checks for larger segments of their job applicant
pools and current employees, according to the Society of Human Resource
Management (SHRM).
Most of the red flags were seen in five areas: Reference
Verifications (education, employment and credentials),
Criminal Background Checks, Driving Record, Credit
Reports and Workers' Compensation claim
records.
Industries with the highest hit ratios include:
Reference Verifications
- Employment Verifications
- Transportation - 56.5%
- Construction - 54.3%
- Nonprofit - 51.6%
- Education Verifications
- Nonprofit - 35.8%
- Construction - 33.2%
- Transportation - 27.5%
- Criminal Background Checks
- Construction - 16.1%
- Automotive - 12.6%
- Retail - 12.5%
- Driving Record
- Construction - 48.9%
- Automotive - 47.8%
- Retail - 12.5%
- Credit Reports
- Service - 55.9%
- Business Real Estate - 51.3%
- Automotive - 50.7%
According to SHRM, some trends are seen:
- More thorough background checks include more complete data.
- Companies are screening all employees, not just managers.
- Smaller companies are recognizing the importance of screening.
- Screening methodology is growing more sophisticated.
If you would like to have your current employment screening program
reviewed by one of our Safe Hiring Specialists or if you have any
questions about any other service, contact OPENonline's Customer
Support Department at 800-366-0106 or by email at
customersupport@openonline.com.
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