Pub. 59 2018-2019 Issue 1

23 SUMMER 2018 Most criminal charges and convictions are tried in county level courts so that is where the most accurate criminal conviction records exist. The County Courthouse is where the records live, the charges are filed, and the matter is adjudicated. TADA endorses utilizing the screening industry’s highest lawful standardwhich is running comprehensive county checks for convictions based upon an overly thorough process of determining where (specific counties) to search. Performing national database checks will assist in giving an indication of which counties to search, but to perform a truly comprehensive criminal conviction search, county criminal conviction searches are a necessity. This way it will confirm and verify the conviction within actual county records along with the latest disposition information. National databases are too inaccurate and incomplete to be solely relied upon, and a dealer cannot afford to “miss” on not knowing a candidate’s criminal conviction history. Turnover Sav v y business people recognize the cost of turnover and realize that trusting a “gut” feeling is not the smartest approach to hiring…especially in the dealership world. A sophisticated preemployment screening process pays for itself a thousand times over by taking the industry standard practices highlighted above and building upon those practices to identify applicants likely to be there today and gone tomorrow. Training new people, unmotivated staff, benefits, sloppy work, and having a “need” position occupied by someone eyeing the door, are all costs that could add up to thousands of dollars for your dealership. A Department of Labor study has shown that reducing employee turnover at the average dealership 10% will yield $300,000.00 in annual gross profit. That's $300,000.00 to add to your bottom line simply by having a concerted effort to attack turnover and institute an “above and beyond” proven process to rid yourself of troublemaking applicants and turnover. The Value of Comprehensive Pre­ Emp l o y me n t S c r e e n i n g a n d Background Checks According to a study from the National Research Business Institute: 1. 42% of employers said a bad hire negatively affected employee morale. 2. 28% said the bad hire negatively impacted client relationships. 3. 19% said the bad hire caused a decrease in sales. Turnover is one of the biggest challenges for small to medium size companies, and it is rife in the dealership world. Any dea lership needs personnel “yesterday” and many are tempted to put a warm body in a role instead of identifying the best candidate available. In other words, dealerships are notorious for hiring someone who can “fog a mirror.”The cost of plugging a candidate into a job that is not suited to them can set your dealership back much further than if time had been taken to do a comprehensive screening and background check process to help find the best individual for the position. Comprehensive Preemployment screening should be incorporated into the hiring process so that a company does not make a hiring decision that they regret. Regulation A qualified and compliant background screening company is what is known as a Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA). CRA’s, and you as a user of consumer reporting information, are highly regulated by the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). One cannot merely perform an online search and use “google” or “Facebook” type of information for your staffing decisions. Litigation against employers is on a sharp rise for improper, discriminatory, and noncompliant use of screening information…especially criminal history. Worse, because it is a process that incorporates the same steps over and over on multiple candidates, if your process is not sophisticated and compliant, your company is ripe for a class action lawsuit. One example is if your dealership is failing to provide FCRA mandated PreAdverse and Adverse Action notices to applicants denied a position based “in whole or in part” on consumer reporting information. Failing to  BACKGROUND CHECKS — CONTINUED ON PAGE 24 A background check for employment is a legal and highly regulated process (the applicant must provide consent and authorization) of looking into a candidate’s past.