How Often Should I Do Employee Background Screening Re-Checks?

EMPLOYEE BACKGROUND CHECKS

Nearly all new-hires for organizations will go through a background check prior to being offered the position. This ensures that a potential employer is aware of the criminal history of the candidate; however, a background check is only up-to-date at the time it is conducted. Without periodic background checks being run, any new criminal activity could go unknown.

Employees who have been a part of a company for any extended amount of time most likely do not have updated background checks on file. In terms of the HR team, the question becomes, “How often should we re-check our employees?”

As many states are becoming more proactive in security and safety, laws are now being created that mandate a maximum amount of time that can go by before an employer must receive an updated background check. One example is Indiana’s HEA 1079 bill, which now requires every employee on a school’s payroll to receive a new background check at least every 5 years. 

Unless there is a state law similar to HEA 1079, there are no stipulations for how often organizations should do re-checks. It is then left to the HR team’s discretion. 

This article is meant less to encourage constantly updating background checks, and more to create awareness that background checks very quickly become ‘out-of-date’.  HR members may want to consider doing background re-checks on employees that have been employed for many years if they have not had a recent background check performed. 

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