New HireRight Employment Screening Benchmarking Report Reveals Competition for Experienced Talent Is Top Hiring Challenge for U.S. Companies

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- HireRight, a leader in on-demand employment background checks, drug and health screening and electronic Form I-9 and E-Verify solutions, today announced the availability of its 2013 HireRight Employment Screening Benchmarking Report. The annual report of hiring and screening practices surveyed more than 1,600 hiring and talent management professionals in companies of all sizes and in a wide range of industries.

“Our sixth annual HireRight Employment Screening Benchmarking Report marks the release of the industry’s premier study of employment screening practices, issues and emerging trends. It includes informative survey data on background checking, drug and alcohol testing, and employment eligibility verification,” said Rachel Trindade, vice president of marketing, HireRight. “The report is designed to capture critical screening program data to help employers evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their own screening practices so they can improve their screening processes and their overall quality of hire.”

The Drive for Talent

Despite the current unemployment rate, many employers remain challenged to find quality talent to fill open positions, which in turn is driving resources towards enticing applicants to the organization through better hiring experiences. While 69 percent of survey participants expect an increase in workforce in 2013, 52 percent of respondents indicated that finding, retaining and developing quality talent is their number one business challenge. The need to compete for quality talent has led companies to employ metrics to evaluate the success of their hiring programs and to take steps to improve the hiring experience for their applicants. A full 71 percent of companies surveyed took definitive steps to improve their applicants’ hiring experience in 2012 and another 9 percent plan to do so in 2013.

Achieving Compliance

Regulatory compliance remains a focus for recruiting professionals, with nearly half of the survey respondents reviewing their criminal check policies last year. This is particularly relevant after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released guidance in April 2012.

Social media is another area of close scrutiny for most organizations. Only 14 percent of survey respondents use social media for screening, reflecting the concern of increasing state legislation regarding the use of social media for employment purposes. And while this number is small, 75 percent of the surveyed companies that do use social media to screen have no policy regarding its use.

Gaps in Screening

While the HireRight Benchmarking Report reconfirms the ubiquitous value of screening – nearly all companies surveyed do some kind of screening – there remain glaring areas of insufficient oversight. Notably, while most organizations (64 percent of those surveyed) use contingent workers, 32 percent of them do not screen these individuals who could have potential access to corporate information and personnel.

This is also true for screening of the global workforce. Not all companies (only 69 percent of those surveyed) verify U.S. candidates’ global work experience or education qualifications and 38 percent of those who do, may ask job candidates for documentation such as pay stubs or transcripts.

From medical marijuana policies and drug testing practices to program oversight and screening integration, the 2013 HireRight Employment Screening Benchmarking Report provides information on a wide range of hiring and screening topics. It continues to serve as an excellent tool for companies to compare and review their own hiring and screening practices with other U.S. companies. The report is available at www.hireright.com/benchmarking.

About HireRight

HireRight is a leading provider of on-demand employment background checks, drug and health screening and electronic Form I-9 and E-Verify solutions that help employers automate, manage and control background screening and related programs. Many companies, including more than one-third of the Fortune 500, trust HireRight because the company delivers customer-focused solutions that provide greater efficiency and faster results. HireRight also provides pre-integrated background screening services through applicant tracking systems from top providers such as Oracle, Taleo, Kenexa, SAP, PeopleAdmin, HealthcareSource, HRsmart, and SilkRoad. HireRight, Inc. is an Altegrity company with worldwide headquarters located in Irvine, California and offices and affiliates around the globe. For more information, visit the company’s web site at www.hireright.com.

HireRight is a registered trademark of HireRight, Inc.

Strategies for HireRight
Lindsay Thompson
714-957-8880, ext. 128
lindsay@strategiesadpr.com

Source: HireRight

Released April 16, 2013