Do employment background checks help create a better customer experience?

The customer is always right. If you’re a business owner you know that and you’ve probably told your employees a million times the customer should always be happy, or else they might take their business elsewhere. The problem is what can Australian business owners do to make sure this is always the case? Can background checks help with that?

The importance of pre-employment background checks

The employees are the face of your company, especially those who interact with your customers on a daily basis. Many Australian companies have strict dress codes for those employees who work directly with the customers, but looks aren’t everything.

To understand the importance of criminal police checks, let’s examine a hypothetical situation. Say you own a shoe store visited by hundreds of women of all ages every day.

What if one of your salespersons happens to be a guy with a history of sexual harassment? Can you even imagine what a nightmare experience one of your customers might have if that guy starts making inappropriate comments or touching her legs while presenting her with various pairs of shoes? Many women are afraid to say anything in such a situation because they might be ashamed of what just happened, but you can bet that customer will never set foot in your store again. And will tell all her friends to stay away.

Or let’s take another scenario, with an employee with a criminal record for various acts of violence. A short-tempered guy might easily become nasty if not downright violent with a demanding customer. Yes, some customers can be very difficult, but your staff should go out of their way to accommodate them because that’s how business works.

How to make police checks part of your hiring strategy

No business wants to be dragged into a public scandal and the only way to avoid that is to make sure your employees are not dangerous. One way of doing that is checking their criminal history.

To avoid awkward situations, you can write that down in the job ad. ‘Selected candidates will have to submit to a national police check or an ancc police check from a character check agency like ANCC’. They’ve been informed now and if, for some reason, they do not want to have a background check they’d better not apply for that position.

Should this question surface during the job interview, your hiring manager can explain the reasoning behind this decision – the company wants to avoid being dragged into a public scandal. Also, add that the company uses the services of an online character check agency, so this won’t inconvenience the candidate in any way.

Another argument is that should such a situation appear, it’s not just the employee at-fault who might be facing charges, but also the company for failing to ensure public safety. At the very least, the company might be sued for negligent hiring.

Knowing that a candidate doesn’t have a criminal record doesn’t guarantee they won’t be causing any sort of trouble in the future, but the risks are significantly lower.

Then you can look at other things you need to do to create the best possible experience for your customers, like providing regular training for your employees and having them permanently monitored.