Hiring For Hotels: Why Screening Is Essential

While every business needs to screen both potential and current employees, it’s critical for the hotel and hospitality industry. Hotels, motels and any establishment that offers lodging has a unique level of exposure if a bad hire is brought aboard. When background checks and proper screening protocols slip through the cracks, job candidates who represent a danger to guests and staff might be hired. And the results can be devastating.

When Background Checks Aren’t Done

In March of this year, Spring Break in Panama City, Florida was in full swing. Throngs of young people had descended upon the city to enjoy time away with their friends. An 18-year-old from Tuscaloosa, Alabama was among them and was staying at one of the many hotels that litter the city. A man named Shawn Wuertley worked at the hotel as a security guard. At 1:00 a.m., Wuertley entered the teen’s room and attacked her. The struggle ended when Wuertley threw the teenager off her room’s balcony.

She was on the 6th floor, yet lived.

Because of the incident, background checks were done. The hotel was stunned to learn that Wuertley had a criminal record in Indiana and had served time in prison between 1998 and 2005.

Screening Hotel Employees

While the incident in Panama City received national attention, it’s far from being an isolated event. There are many examples that illustrate the need for more rigorous hiring practices for hotel employees. That includes screening current hotel staff on a recurring basis as well as doing exhaustive background checks for prospective hires.

The people whom you employ to address and take care of guests have an incredible amount of exposure to those guests. They encounter them in secluded hallways. They clean their rooms and serve them food. Each case presents a potential risk. Whether you’re hiring room service staff, security guards, or housekeeping employees, your hiring practices should include intense screening and thorough employee background checks. Your guests’ safety may depend upon it.

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4 Ways Employees Can Steal From You

According to the 2007 National Retail Federation survey, retailers lost 41.6 billion dollars to theft and fraud.  The majority of retail shrinkage last year was due to employee theft, at $19.5 billion, which represented almost half of the losses (47%).

While large corporations can usually weather the financial impact of employee embezzlement, the problem hits smaller organizations much harder. In many cases, business owners have lost their life savings to a bad hire. Even medium-sized companies can falter under the impact. Below, I’ll describe 4 ways in which an employee can steal from you. Then, I’ll explain the best way to prevent it from happening to your business.

#1 - Inflated Expense Accounts

Expense accounts are important for a variety of businesses. However, left unchecked, an employee can easily fabricate expenses, claiming reimbursement for money that was never spent.

#2 - Tampered Payroll

Payroll fraud is more prevalent than many employers realize. A bad hire may add ghost employees to the payroll, claim wages that are unearned or unauthorized, or even steal and cash blank payroll checks.

#3 - Fraudulent Billing Schemes

A lot of organizations work with vendors, yet have no formal process by which purchase orders are reviewed and approved. Employees can easily establish fictitious vendor accounts, diverting payments to a P.O. box.

#4 - Register Theft

Businesses that operate in a retail setting can be victimized by an embezzling employee who steals directly from the register. In simple cases, the employee collects money from a legitimate customer for a purchase, but instead of ringing the sale, the employee pockets the cash.  It can go much further, including falsifying refunds, voids and taking advantage of customers’ credit cards.

How To Prevent Employee Embezzlement

A major portion of employee embezzlement can be prevented. Employers must maintain a strict employee screening process and perform thorough background checks on job candidates. While uncovering past incidents of theft or misappropriation of funds can be difficult, the profiles of bad hires who are likely to commit fraud are often similar. The worst thing an organization can do is neglect the importance of screening applicants and doing comprehensive background checks.

Eliminating bad hires from the applicant pool can save your company the headache of dealing with theft, fraud and embezzlement.

Can You Tell If Your Applicant Is Lying?

It’s estimated that nearly 30% of job applicants lie on their resumes. Millions of candidates misrepresent their education, work history, and qualifications. Even worse, they might be hiding a criminal past. According to ADP Screening and Selection, out of over 2 million background checks performed in 2001, over 40% of applicants lied about their past employment or education.

Some HR executives are confident that their interviewing skills can help them identify liars. But, studies show that visual clues are often misleading. And the cost of hiring a bad employee can be enormous.

When Visual Clues Are Unreliable

HR professionals often think that a lack of eye contact or excessive squirming is evidence that a potential hire is lying. But, such visual clues are unreliable. A candidate who doesn’t maintain eye contact and fidgets during an interview may be well-qualified, yet simply nervous. Eliminating him from the applicant pool can be a lost opportunity for an organization. What’s more, millions of people are adept at lying. Lacking visual evidence of dishonesty, an HR executive may hire a candidate who has misrepresented himself.

The True Cost Of A Bad Hire

Hiring someone who has lied on his resume can create a number of costly problems for a business. For example, if a new employee lied about his qualifications, a business might be forced to waste time training that employee or looking for another candidate. If a criminal history remains hidden, the costs can be much higher. Employee theft, workplace violence, and substance abuse can lead to expensive negligent hiring lawsuits. The true cost of hiring a bad employee can be unfathomable.

Background Checks Are Essential

Because employers and HR professionals can’t depend upon visual clues to identify lying applicants, they must perform comprehensive background checks. Checking references, calling past employers, and looking for hidden criminal records is the only reliable way to reveal whether an applicant is misrepresenting himself. If your business is hiring employees without conducting background checks, you are exposing your company to unnecessary risk.

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4 Questions Employers Have About Employee Screening

Even though employee screening should be a fundamental part of every company’s hiring practices, many employers are concerned about how to take action on it. Most of them understand the severe costs of hiring a bad employee. But, they are still uncertain about how to begin screening candidates and conducting background checks.

Here are 4 common questions that many employers have about employee screening…

#1 - “Can We Afford Screening?”

The question that employers should be asking is, “Can we afford not to conduct employee screening?” Hiring a person without knowing whether he has a criminal record, drug problem, or a history of violence can be far more expensive than doing a background check. A single violent outburst in the workplace can end up costing millions. Meanwhile, screening a job candidate by running a thorough background check usually costs less than what employers spend on that employee during the first day.

#2 - “Do I Have A Legal Right To Screen?”

The government allows employers to conduct intense screening and background checks to order to avoid hiring bad candidates. Once a potential hire signs a consent form, the employer can legally begin checking credit reports, motor vehicle records and civil reports. They can also perform a criminal history search while verifying the candidate’s employment and education history.

#3 - “How Much Time Does Take?”

One of the concerns that employers have is whether doing an exhaustive background check will take too much time. A thorough screening process shouldn’t require more than a few days. Plus, having a policy of doing employee screening tends to discourage bad candidates from applying.

#4 - “Do I Have The Resources?”

Screening job candidates properly does require time and attention. Because many hiring managers are increasingly busy, a lot of companies choose to outsource the job to an experienced employee screening company. This type of service can immediately start conducting extensive background checks on potential hires.

Employers should consider employee screening as a critical part of the hiring process. It’s legal, cost-effective, can be done quickly and by outsourcing, doesn’t require a boost in HR staff. And the nightmare it can help employers avoid from taking on bad hires is immeasurable.

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Four Red Flags To Look For In A Credit Report

Last week one of our clients asked me if there are any “red flags” to look for on credit reports when used in the employee screening process.  I thought our readers could benefit from this so here they are…

Four Red Flags To Look For In A Credit Report:

1. What are the applicant’s total monthly payments?  How does this compare to the projected salary and benefits?  If the total monthly payments are significantly larger than their income it may be a red flag.
2. How many negative items are listed, such as late payments, collection actions, writeoffs or an account closed by the credit grantor?
3. Are there any negative public records and are they related to employment?  For example a tax lien may indicate someone has not paid attention to their financial affairs or is under financial stress.  If there is a bankruptcy in the credit report, then the employer should NOT utilize the bankruptcy without talking to an attorney.  Federal law expressly prohibits a private employer from discrimination solely on the basis of a person exercising their rights under the bankruptcy laws. Refer to 11 USC 525.
4. Are there alerts from the credit agencies?  Some bureaus issue fraud alerts if there is a suspicion of fraud or abuse.

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Do You Have A Sex Offender In Your House?

When was the last time you had a service person in your house? Could this person have been a sex offender without you knowing it?

The Consumer Awareness of Unsafe Service Employment (C.A.U.S.E.) Certification campaign was launched today on the seven year anniversary of the death of Sue Weaver, who was raped and beaten to death in her Orlando home by a worker sent to clean her air ducts. Although a twice-convicted sex offender on parole, the company did not do a criminal background check before hiring him.

Sue’s sister Lucia Bone founded The Sue Weaver C.A.U.S.E. in her memory. “Tragically, Sue’s murder is not an isolated case. Many consumers are assaulted and murdered each year by people whose jobs allow them access to their victims.”

“C.A.U.S.E. leads a national nonprofit campaign to educate employers and consumers to the necessity of criminal background checks and to promote C.A.U.S.E. Certification,” she said. “The C.A.U.S.E. Team has spent two years developing the certification program and has already received applications from several service providers employing more than 650 in-home workers.”

“We have to educate the public about hiring practices. Bonded and insured does not mean a criminal background check has been performed on the workers. C.A.U.S.E. Certification is designed to offer safety conscious consumers a means of identifying service companies that take their safety seriously. It also offers service providers a means to hire and promote safer employees, contractors, and subcontractors. As a result, it will better protect both consumers and businesses,” Bone added. “C.A.U.S.E. Certification is a program that very well may have saved Sue’s life!”

To find out more about C.A.U.S.E. go here.

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Deciding Whether To Drug Screen Employees

As a hiring manager, you may initially feel uncomfortable with the thought of requiring drug tests from job applicants. Some human resources personnel feel that doing so encroaches upon applicants’ privacy. In truth, drug screening prospective hires can protect your company and your employees. Here are a few reasons why you should drug screen job candidates…

Drug Screening Protects Your Business

If you hire an employee who has a history of drug abuse, you could be held partially or fully liable for his actions while on the job. By drug screening applicants, you can eliminate those who have had a drug problem in the past. If something drug-related were to happen in the workplace and an employee is injured, prior drug screening would help insulate your company from a negligent hiring claim.

It Maintains Employees’ Safety

Some jobs require employees to operate machinery or potentially-harmful devices. If an employee who is operating this machinery under the influence of drugs makes a mistake, other workers can be injured. Not only will a drug screen prevent drug abuse in the workplace from endangering your staff in the first place, but it’s often a legal requirement for employers.

Drug Abuse Can Have A Massive Cost

If your workplace or your staff is exposed to an employee with a drug problem, the costs can be enormous. It can lead to employees becoming hurt, expenses related to negligent hiring lawsuits and damage to computers, machinery and other company assets. In some cases, the actions of employees who are under the influence of drugs have resulted in businesses having to close.

Drug screening job candidates plays a key role in finding high-quality employees for your company. Doing so protects your current staff from injury and insulates the workplace from damage and disruption. Finally, it helps shield your company from negligent hiring lawsuits. If you’ve been reluctant to conduct drug screening on new hires, consider the above reasons. The sooner you include it in your employee screening program, the better.

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Does Your Company Do Employment Background Checks On Outside Vendors?

Since discovering that a pedophile was involved with an HIV-testing program for University of New Hampshire students, university officials have written a new policy requiring all outside vendors to pass criminal background checks.

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What You Need To Know About The FCRA

An important part of doing a background check on potential hires is accessing their credit information. While it’s not always the case, credit history can be an effective barometer of how responsible and trustworthy an employee will be once you hire him. That being said, the privacy rights of your potential hires are protected by the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Today, I want to explain a few important points about the FCRA that you need to know.

Asking Job Candidates’ Permission

Before you access a job candidate’s consumer report (prepared specifically by a consumer reporting agency), you must notify him. Then, you need to receive written permission from the candidate to access the report. One of the provisions of the FCRA is that an employer must communicate to a job applicant that the consumer report may be used to make a hiring decision.

Notifying Candidates Of Adverse Actions

If you end up not hiring a job candidate because of what you discover on his consumer report, you need to tell him so. It can be done in writing, over the phone, or with an email. But, the adverse action has to be communicated.

Failing To Comply

If you fail to comply with the provisions of the FCRA, you may be held liable. If you don’t ask a potential employee for permission before accessing his consumer report, he can file a lawsuit against your company. Similarly, if you fail to notify him of any adverse action you’ve taken, he can also file a lawsuit.

Using The FCRA For Access

Reviewing a job applicant’s credit history can help you make good hiring decisions. While the FCRA was created to protect the privacy of individuals, it provides employers the opportunity to legally access applicants’ credit information. Its provisions require employers to follow certain rules in doing so. But, these hurdles should not prevent you from checking the credit history of potential employees. The hiring disasters you can avoid in the long-run makes it worthwhile.

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Social Networks and Stupid Employees

I just watched a video “The Stupidest Employee Ever?” on the Ohio Employer’s Law Blog. In the video a Burger King employee took a bath in the restaurant’s utility sink and then posted it on YouTube. In my previous post Employee Screening Through Social Networks I wrote about social networks blurring the line between “business” and “pleasure”. This employee definitely blurred the line and gets my vote.

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