NRF survey says almost all retailers use background checks

survey. “As retailers across the country begin to hire hundreds of thousands of holiday employees, the National Retail Federation today released a survey that illustrates the importance of employee background screenings in keeping customers safe,” says an article posted by Security Management. Responses from the survey, which was conducted in July, came from 96 executives from various retailers and showed that 97 percent of respondents used background screening sometime during the application process. “Pre-employment screenings are one of the tools retailers use as a first line of defense, especially during the holiday season when companies may have hundreds–if not thousands–of applications to sift through,” NRF senior asset protection advisor Joe LaRocca said. Most of the background checks (60 percent) examine records available from the last five to seven years. These records often include credit history, criminal records, motor vehicle records, and education records. The survey was released in part to show the importance of background checks to employers and to raise awareness of new guidelines being considered by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that would prevent businesses from asking potential employees about their criminal history during the application process. The survey didn’t include data for how many of the companies had rejected potential employees because of information found during a background check.]]>