ASIA
NEWS
Five things employers should know about background screening
AUSTRALIA
JOB HOPPING? NAH.. Close to 70% of Australians are keen to remain with their employer for more than five years. This is according to a survey of 6,537 Australians by recruiting firm Hays. The poll found that 69% of Aussie employees believe in job loyalty and are ready to stay for more than five years with the right organisation. One in five (20%) said they’ll remain for up to five years, while the remaining 11% expected to change firms every one to two years. “Most Australians at heart do believe in job loyalty,” said Nick Deligiannis, Managing Director of Hays in Australia and New Zealand. “The job for life mentality is long gone, but so too is the mindset of job hopping regularly. Today almost 70% of us want to stay with our employer for five years or more, suggesting that, for most of us at least, stability, security and loyalty are important. “Given this, it’s up to employers to ensure they create an environment in which employees can remain. After all, people want to stay with their
LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS
Chin Wei Chong
Marketing & Communications Director, APAC, First Advantage employer long term, but they also want their careers to continue to develop and thrive.” According to Deligiannis, this means that firms must offer all employees with opportunities to undertake training and development, have regular reviews and promotional chances. “They also need to deliver what they promised in the recruitment process so that the reality of working at their organisation matches what they promoted when they were attracting top talent,” he explained. “As long as staff are offered stimulating work and their career continues to advance, most will stay. A lack of career progression is the number one reason people come to us looking for their next job, so we can’t emphasise enough the importance of putting career development plans in place.”
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amage to the company’s reputation. The cost of replacing employees who didn’t have the qualifications stated on their resumes. These are just some of the many problems that can arise if a company hires the wrong candidates. Here, we provide a brief exploration of five things employers should know about background screening.
The biggest challenges One of the biggest concerns among APAC employers is the rapidly changing legislation regarding screening and data security.
Growing acceptance Although background screening is not yet widely practiced, there is a rapidly growing acceptance. First Advantage reports there was a more than 10% increase in the number of background checks conducted in APAC between 2014 and 2015.
JAPAN
WHY AM I STAYING LONGER AT WORK?
Effectiveness of background screening Companies that conduct six checks or more for each candidate are nine times more likely to uncover an alert than employers that only conduct one or two checks.
Around three-quarters (74.6%) of Japanese professionals who took part in the Ephraim Global Employee Pulse Survey 2015 have revealed they spend longer hours in the office than they are contractually compelled to. “It is not uncommon among a dedicated and upwardly professional workforce that longer working hours are almost the norm,” said Hajime Fujiharu, Chief Operating Officer at Ephraim Global. “Out of those surveyed, more than 50% replied that they operated more efficiently outside of their regular working hours, and there is a very good explanation for this occurrence: as business meetings usually take place during normal office hours, employees prefer getting more work done by working longer hours and evading dayto-day distractions to concentrate on more important priorities and issues.” Still, 72% of those quizzed in the survey said additional working hours were visibly affecting their work-life balance. In addition, 64.3% of the respondents revealed that they felt compelled to clock in longer hours than what was written in their contracts. The survey also found that over half of the organisations involved were taking the extra hours into account, and offering their workers the chance to work flexible hours or from home. “We believe that more businesses should introduce such practices within their workplace in an attempt to reduce the negative impact that longer working hours have on their workforces. In all probability, this will translate into increased productivity,” explained Fujiharu.
ISSUE 15.12
HRMASIA.COM
Differences by countries and industries For example, instances in which companies conducted six checks or more checks per candidate are most prevalent in the more established markets of Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.
How to get started Our research shows that employers in APAC who screen their candidates find a larger number of discrepancies, and employers that have yet to adopt the practice may end up hiring those individuals with false credentials.
For the full article or for more information, please contact the author Chin Wei Chong at weichong.chin@fadv.com. 5