There will always be problems in the workplace. From office politics to sexual harassment, from problems retaining staff to issues with in-house relationships, no office is perfect. We’ve listed the four most common employee-related problems, as cited by office professionals and managers, as well as the best employee background check tips to ensure these issues do not negatively impact your company.
Under Qualified Staff
One look at the ‘work experience’ and ‘education’ sections of a resume and you should be able to tell if an employee will be qualified for the position. However, this is actually not the case at all. Applicants will often beef up their resume in order to get the job and then fake their way through the interview. Unless you have specific tests in place to determine the skill levels of your applicants, there is a good possibility that your potential employee is not as qualified as his resume suggests. You then have to go through the hassle of training him in the basics that he should already know. This can be time consuming and frustrating for any company manager.
One of the best ways to ensure that you are not caught by the false-resume trap is to perform a social security verification check. A social security verification check will list the detailed information of your applicant including his past jobs, according to his tax records. What this means is you can compare his ‘work experience’ to reality and determine if he is actually as qualified as he has documented.
Personality Clashes in the Workplace
There will always be personality clashes between people in the office. While these clashes are often played out humorously on television, they are not so funny in real life, especially when you are caught in the middle. These office politics often cause serious work production issues and you may find yourself mediating rather than actually getting anything done.
The best way to deal with personality clashes in the workplace is by doing a thorough inspection of a potential employee during the interview process. Know the different personality
types that exist in the office and try to find someone who will fit into the mould. If you like to be in charge and prefer your workers to be passive rather than argumentative, look for someone who has a similar personality during the interview. Ask circumstantial questions to see how the applicants react to the situation. Although you will
never be able to eliminate all clashes in the office, performing a meticulous interview may help you decide who will fit best with your already-established staff.
Employee Theft
It might be hard to believe but employee theft occurs in 30% of all businesses and is one of the reasons that many businesses fail. The Department of Justice reports that nearly one third of all employees will commit some degree of employee theft during their working careers. Employee theft can include petty crimes such as stealing chocolate bars from the back room or rummaging through the lost and found bins. However, even these small crimes add up. Common employee theft related crimes include stealing money from a cash register, voiding receipts to pocket the money and stealing stock and office equipment. However, there are some employee-related crimes, such as accounting schemes, embezzlement and insider trading that could end up costing your company hundreds of thousands of dollars.
So how can you stop employee theft before it happens? Three words: criminal background checks. A criminal background check will allow you to see if your potential employee has any previous convictions. Look for white collar criminal convictions, shoplifting and other theft convictions. If the employee background check comes out clean, then you can feel a lot better about hiring him. However, keep in mind that just because an employee has a clean criminal record check does not necessarily mean he is 100% trustworthy. Invest in internal surveillance measures to keep track of what’s really happening behind closed doors.
Employee Flakiness
Are your employees constantly calling in sick, citing every excuse in the book? If so, you are not alone. While not all employees will make use of the numerous sick days offered, many employees will take these days off to their full advantage. Furthermore, many others will take advantage of worker’s compensation and other personal injury claims. Some illnesses cannot be prevented or predicted; however, many employees will call in sick on a Monday after a long weekend of hard partying, or take Friday off simply because
they feel like it. These cases of employee flakiness will end up costing you more money and effort than its worth, especially if it means replacing the employee with someone else. You might find yourself spending more
time on the phone trying to find replacement staff than actually managing your business.
The best way to determine the flakiness of your potential employee is to ask for a number of references, especially from past employers. If your applicant does not submit names
and numbers of recent employers, then a social security verification check can help out. All it takes is a simple phone call to find out how well the applicant performed at his past job. If the old employer admits that the employee took a lot of sick days and personal leave, then there is a good chance that he will do the same for you.
Sometimes the best way to avoid potential office problems is to do your research. Checking references, performing a thorough interview, obtaining a social security verification check and using the services of employee background checks will all help you eliminate office problems, boost company morale and improve your business’ production.