PreemploymentDirectory’s 2013 Employers Background Screening Survey Reports Timeliness, Cost and Accuracy are Top Concerns of Employers


This years 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%.
  • 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.

Read the full report