Q&A: Background Screening In The Information Age

By Matt Pillar, Integrated Solutions For Retailers magazine

The U.S. retail industry requires a massive workforce, creating an equally massive labor pool. Retailers employ more than 24 million people, through whose hands flow annual sales of more than $4.7T. Financial responsibility aside, retailers often deal with high employee turnover, absenteeism, substance abuse problems, and even workplace violence. It's therefore increasingly critical that you protect your organization by adopting a comprehensive screening program. How can you ensure your background screening efforts are having a positive impact on new employee quality, turnover reduction, and the mitigation of employee-related shrink? Does your employee selection process protect you from the liabilities associated with hiring criminals? We caught up with Steve Palek, VP at Asurint, a developer and designer of an integrated system of background screening products for retailers. Palek shared some thoughts and opinions based on his long tenure in the retail background screening space.