Protect Yourself, Your Family, And Your Business - Really Know Your Employees

These days a business owner or principal just can't be too careful. Weather they're searching for a new employee or looking for a new babysitter, it's vital to know who they're really talking to. For safety and liability reasons, you must know as much as possible about them and their past. According to the National Retail Security Survey, employee theft cost U.S. business over $31 billion last year. Retailers saw almost 2% of their inventory walk out the door in the hands of their employees.

If you are a business owner or looking to hire someone to work at your home, such as a handyman or babysitter, it only makes sense that you'd want to know everything about them before they came into contact with your family, cherished property, or personal information. While property crimes in the U.S. are actually decreasing, according to the latest FBI statistics, violent crimes are on the upswing. The FBI reported that, for 2005 and the first half of 2006, violent crimes grew over 2%, after years of steady decline.

Thankfully, the Internet age has allowed unprecedented access to information. Both a blessing and a curse at times, with respect to allowing an employer to check on employees, it is most definitely a blessing. Never before has one been able to find out the criminal history of a potential employee for example, without resorting to a private investigations firm. In many cases employers, weather corporate or small business, and landlords are now able to check criminal histories and credit information before they hire a new employee.

This can potentially save them not only thousands of dollars, but also possible legal exposure as well. In the litigious society in which we live, many have found it pays to take precautions when hiring new employees. An employer can be held liable for the actions of their employees. This is especially true if it can be shown the employer knew, or should have known, their employee had a history of violence or sexual misconduct.

This is avoidable in many cases, thanks to the Internet's ability to deliver information in a timely fashion. It's possible to do a public records search that will uncover all manner of problems in a potential employee's past they'd probably rather an employer not know about. The employer is still free to hire them if they'd like to, but at least they are forewarned about potential problems. Some of the problems may have little or no bearing on the employee's performance and behavior in the workplace, but others bear knowing about. An employer can discover criminal histories, past addresses, court proceedings, such as prior lawsuits and judgments, tax liens, and so forth. Information is power, and in this case it can be protection as well.