Check mate!

Appalled at rising fraud, corporates to screen workers more stringently

Manish Kumar (name changed), a senior candidate hired as a practice head by one of India's largest IT firms in Delhi, was found to have submitted fake degree certificates from IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Mumbai. The person had managed to survive in corporate India for 20 years before his 'fake certificates' were finally exposed.

Increasing incidents of reported involvement of employees in frauds have lead to greater recognition of the need for background screening. Now private firms are opting for recurring verification of their employees instead of one-time verifications at the time joining the job, as cases of fraud rise.

Background verification companies have introduced the concept of 'Infinity screening' in India - which is all about checking criminal records of existing employees on a regular basis. Companies across sectors have shown interest in this concept and at least one such request is coming in every alternate month.

Wayne Tollemache, Executive Managing Director (Asia Pacific) of First Advantage Pvt Ltd., a global risk mitigation company said, "Reported incidences of car drivers being involved in crimes in the IT/ ITeS sector, access to sensitive customer information in BFSI sector, instances of staff in educational institutions involved in exploitation cases - all have led to growing awareness of the need for background screening of employees."

"However a candidate who has been background screened and found 'clear' doesn't imply that he/she remains 'clear' in future as well. So more and more companies are opting for screening their vendors, contract staff and outsourced personnel based on the outcome of employee screening on a regular basis." Tollemache added.

According to a survey conducted by First Advantage, individuals with questionable background tend to join organizations that do not conduct background screening of its employees or contract/vendor staff. However, when these organizations do start conducting background screening, they find many discrepancies and/or go through huge attrition, when they announce background screening.

Central Bureau of Investigation had found 1,576 cases of fake mark-sheets issued in the name of 10 universities across Mumbai of which 659 were issued in the name of Mumbai University and another 729 in the name of Pune University.

Actually the organisation's reputation is at stake in case they hire someone with questionable background. Thus, lack of background screening or even less number of checks conducted on current or potential employees/vendor/contract staff is something that would come back to haunt any organisation. So we have got agencies through which we carry out the verification of our employees. The criminal records of employees are generally conducted once a year. -u00a0Sonia Kathuria, HR head with a media organisation in Delhi

What do they check?
*u00a0Criminal History
* Drugs use
* Addresses
* Global/national media and database checks