The Remote Work Movement: Screening for Safety at Scale and At Home
Remote work has revolutionized how companies operate. Flexibility and convenience benefit employers and employees alike, but the remote work movement brings new challenges; safety, security, and screening compliance are among the most pressing.
This article explores the importance of establishing effective security protocols and offers insights into how companies can simplify the screening process for at-home or hybrid teams.
Due Diligence from a Distance
In many ways, remote work can aid our ability to hire. Geographic barriers that keep companies from hiring talent in different counties and countries are diminished. Accessibility is expanded when candidates don't have to manage the time or financial cost of a commute or navigate a physical office space. But to bring new employees onboard without the traditional process of in-person interviews and on-site visits requires some thoughtful adjustments.
Here, social security number checks are helpful in reducing any risk of false identification. SSN checks cross-reference the candidates provided SSN with other personal information to ensure consistency. Employment verification checks, too, help employers authenticate the work histories of their applicants to reduce the chance of any false assertions made during the process. Similarly, academic verification checks offer another way to double-check an applicant's honesty before they become a team member. Read our guide to selecting the proper background screenings for your business or non-profit here.
Understanding Distributed Compliance
Remote teams have access to talent across different regions, each of which comes with its own rules and regulations. Employers and hiring teams face new complexity in their compliance when conducting screenings for a distributed team. Any failure to comply with local laws can compound, especially if the same oversight is repeated for multiple hires in different parts of the country or world.
Guidance here is a hiring professional's best path. We pride ourselves at Authentica on our ability to advise on best practices on an international level. We can save you time–and the cost of doing it wrong–by pointing you in the right direction on a hire-by-hire basis.
Screenings like criminal record checks and county criminal searches require access to local databases that might be out of the region for the hiring team. Our team has long-standing connections with criminal justice agencies across the country; we can help you get the information you need from those organizations without long wait times or inaccuracies.
The Stakes are Higher at Home
In the last few years, we realized that the miracles of information technology allow us to operate, collaborate, and innovate without sharing a physical space. That also means a company's personal information, documentation, intellectual property, and sensitive data is more distributed than ever. When a new hire joins your team remotely, they may be getting digital access that's greater than what they might've been granted in a traditional office setting; the above steps for ensuring security at a distance are crucial for this new way of working.
By partnering with a consistent and trusted screening provider, remote teams can make this part of the hiring process easy. Authentica understands the nuances of compliance by geography, upholds connections to contacts and databases across the country, and has experience improving the accuracy and efficiency of screening processes under any circumstances. If you're remote and growing, consider partnering with one of our experts to make sure you've got the right strategies in place to make the most of your remote or hybrid team.