These days, employers aren’t asking “if” they should perform background checks—most companies do it as a hiring best practice. Instead, many are wondering “how often” they should be screening their employees. While screening frequency is usually based on business-specific needs, one relatively new option made possible through advances in screening technology is gaining momentum: “records watch.” “One and done” and screening vs. records watch Traditional pre-employment background screening is usually performed once, prior to making a job offer to a candidate. While these “one and done” background checks on new employees are important, they only provide insight into an individual’s history at that point in time. Employees continue to live their lives—and sometimes get in trouble with the law—after they start work, sometimes within a few weeks or months, or sometimes years later. While a company could schedule rescreenings of all or a portion of their employee population every year or two years, it may be more effective to implement a records watch on the employee population in an ongoing way.
