Employee screening serves a few different but related purposes at once. For some employers, it is a "weeding-out" mechanism designed to disparage former criminals from even beginning the application process. An ex-con who learns that he or she will be asked to provide extensive background information will often just shuffle along to another job opportunity.

More importantly, employee screening is designed to keep safe and productive work environments. A "bad seed" may be responsible not only for inefficiency, but for riling up otherwise diligent employees as well. A troublemaker's doings can be contagious and cause good employees to question things about their jobs that their employers would rather they not question such as pay rates and benefits.

Additional Reasons for Employee Screening

Employee screening is also a safeguard against bad intuition. A lot of criminals are excellent actors and can easily talk their way through interviews. Even the savviest hiring manager may be duped into thinking he or she has stumbled upon a gem when in reality that gem is a cancer. Employee screening can help these hiring managers tell for certain whether their hunches are right.

Finally, employee screening is simply ethical business practice. Namely, it shows that all candidates are subject to scrutiny and that there are no free rides. With the push for anti-discrimination laws in the workplace, employee screening helps ensure that all candidates are treated by the same standards.