This year’s survey was conducted at the 2013 SHRM Annual Conference held in Chicago in June. We received a total of 376 completed surveys up from 325 last year. The key findings included: Once again, ‘timeliness, cost and accuracy’ were rated as the top three challenges that end users face with background screening in that order; The top innovations sought by end users that responded to the survey remained identical to the top ranked responses in 2012: Quick Turnaround, Online Web Based Capability and Better Integration with HRIS and ‘Ease of Use’ pulled into a tie for the third spot with ‘Better Integration with HRIS’; In response to the new EEOC Guidance we added a new question regarding the ‘Use of arrest and criminal record.’ Unsurprisingly the leading answer was ‘Decreased Use’ at 56% and interestingly 6% actually indicated they ‘Increased Use’; Overall, the satisfaction level (Extremely Satisfied and Very Satisfied) remain exactly the same as last year at 62%. Barely Satisfied also remained the same at 26%; and The number of firms indicating they definitely will seek a new provider rose 6 percentage points and the number of firms that were ‘Undecided’ remained virtually the same as last year.
