Background checks are slowly becoming the norm in Australian businesses, even in those lines of work where such checks are not mandated by law. The trend has become obvious over the past decade as online police checks have become widely available. The obvious reason employers now regularly ask for background checks is that they allow them to keep their workforce safe from dangerous elements.

There’s also an additional benefit many don’t yet understand – increased productivity.

Here’s how regular use of national police checks can increase productivity, which is after all the main concern for all businesses.

Better quality employees

Some companies have taken to mentioning background checks right from the job advertisement, so candidates know what to expect. This alone is enough to keep away unsavory characters, people with a long list of convictions on their record, who, left unchecked, could become a liability for the company.

Hiring a person with serious convictions on their record can lead to workplace disturbances, problems with the customers and business partners, not to mention public scandals.

Once potential trouble-makers are warned their past will be checked, all of these problems are eliminated.

At the same time, a company making a reputation for itself by providing a safe workplace is more likely to attract highly-skilled professionals in search of a good place to work. The better qualified the workforce, the higher the productivity will be.

Reduced employee turnover

Every time a company needs to hire a new employee, that's a burden on the Human Resources department. Instead of focusing on performance improvement, HR managers are forced to deal with endless job interviews, which also affects productivity.

At the same time, a new employee requires an adjustment period and weeks or months of training. This also takes a toll on the company’s productivity due to employee turnover.

If the new recruit was not properly screened and turns out to be a bad hire, in most cases they will be fired once they start creating problems. This brings the HR back to square one. More job interviews, more training, more money wasted.

The case for background checks

The main reason some companies are reluctant to use background checks is that they’re afraid it’s a time-consuming thing, plus nobody likes to deal with even more bureaucracy.

Fortunately, things have changed over the past few years and there’s a modern way of ordering a background check on an employee with virtually no red-tape involved and no time wasted.

Online police check agencies like ANCC - www.australiannationalcharactercheck.com.au are fully accredited with the government and they have user-friendly interfaces. An HR employee only needs a couple of minutes to order a background check and the full police report is sent back to their email in 1-2 business days.

These online criminal record checks are 100% accurate as the accredited agencies have access to all the police databases in all Australian states and territories. If a certain candidate has committed an offence anywhere in the country, it will appear on their police check.

Obviously, not all candidates who have a criminal record are unsuitable to be hired. These situations need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Also, HR managers need to keep in mind that it is illegal to turn down a candidate based on their criminal record if the offences committed are in no way relevant to the job.