The holiday hiring season is quickly approaching and retailers lead the way in putting honest and hard working individuals to work. In fact, we directly or indirectly employ one of every four American workers.
Any good executive or store manager will tell you that hiring the right team will make or break a store. Sifting through hundreds or even thousands of employment applications and interviewing countless individuals to fill those coveted full, part-time and seasonal positions can be a daunting task. I think businesses, especially retailers, do an incredible job hiring in the communities they serve and always look for the most qualified candidates. It’s not always an easy choice.
Today NRF released its first piece of research on the topic of background screening. We polled retail executives from 96 of the nation’s leading department stores, mass merchants, discounters, drug stores, grocery stores and restaurants to examine their use of background screenings before and during the application and employment process.
The findings? Nearly all retailers – a whopping 97% – utilize background screenings in some form during the application, hiring and employment process, according to the survey. Additionally, a majority of retailers surveyed report that human resources (56%) and loss prevention departments (39.4%) are most often charged with criminal background screenings and similarly are the same departments that can override employment decisions to ensure a fair and open process for all applicants and employees.
In the drafting process, I’ve been sharing some of this report with NRF member companies – and some have changed their operations in response. One company moved their background process from loss prevention to human resources. Another retailer only performs drug screening at this time and is now exploring the use of criminal history and sex offender checks for their store employees going forward.
I also received very candid – and sometimes colorful – comments from retailers earlier in the year as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) began consideration of new guidelines. The EEOC is still considering new guidelines that would prevent all businesses from asking potential employees about their criminal history during the application process. Their goal is to remove employment barriers for convicted criminals and ways to ease criminal re-entry into the workforce. NRF has expressed serious concern about the potential changes and their impact on the safety of customers and employees.
One Comment
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is considering their new guidelines -this is good sign. EEOC should implement it as early as they can.