Industry Facts

Once you know the statistics, you’ll see that pre-employment screening is certainly an investment in the health of your company or organization, regardless of your size. Here are some interesting facts and figures from the pre-employment screening industry.

Bad Hires

• It costs $7,000 to replace a salaried employee, $10,000 to replace a mid-level employee and $40,000 to replace a senior executive.
  Source: Recruiting Times
• In 1999, employers lost 60 percent of negligent hiring/supervision jury trials.
  Source: The Reish & Luftman Practical Guide to Employment Law
• On average, in U.S. businesses,  at least half of all new hires “don’t work out.”
  Source: Fortune, 2/00

False Information

• 9% of job applicants falsely claimed they had a college degree, listed false employers or identified jobs that didn’t exist.
  Source: Resume Inflation: Two Wrongs May Mean No Rights, by Barbara Kat Repa, Nolo .com, 8/801
• 34% of all application forms contain outright lies about experience, education and the ability to perform essential functions on the job.
  Source: Wall Street Journal
• 11% of job applicants misrepresented why they left a former employer.
  Source: Resume Inflation: Two Wrongs May Mean No Rights, by Barbara Kat Repa, Nolo .com, 8/801
• Nearly one-third of job applicants listed dates of employment that were inaccurate by more than three months.
  Source: Resume Inflation: Two Wrongs May Mean No Rights, by Barbara Kat Repa, Nolo .com, 8/801
• As many as 30 percent of jobseekers exaggerate their accomplishments, and about 10 percent “seriously misrepresent” their backgrounds.
  Source: The Complete Reference Checking Book, by Edward C. Adler

On-the-Job Violence

• On-the-job violence costs employers $36 billion each year.
  Source: Workplace Violence Research Institute
• The average award in a workplace violence lawsuit exceeds $1 million per case.
  Source: Workplace Violence Research Institute
• Workplace violence is the foremost concern of corporate security directors at Fortune 1000 companies. Other top concerns include employee selection and screening      concerns, fraud and white-collar crime, theft, drugs and alcohol in the workplace and unethical business practices.
  Source: Pinkerton, Top Security  Threats, Year 2000 Survey
• In May 1999, an estimated 16,400 threats were made, 723 workers were attacked and 43,800 were harassed each work day.
  Source: The Workplace Violence Research Institute
• 57% of respondents reported that a violent incident occurred in their workplace between January 1995 and July 1999.
  Source: Society of Human Resource Management, Workplace Violence Study, 1999

Drugs

• One in six workers has a drug problem.
  Source: Don’t Hire A Crook, Dennis DeMay and James R. Flowers Jr., 1999 Facts on Demand Press, pg. 90
• 87% of major US firms now test employees, job applicants or both for drug use.
  Source: Don’t Hire A Crook, Dennis DeMay and James R. Flowers Jr., 1999 Facts on Demand Press, pg. 90

Employee Theft

• 30% of all business failures are caused by employee theft.
  Source: American Management Association and US Chamber of Commerce
• 14.7% of all applicants admit to theft of merchandise from an employer.
  Source: Reid Psychological Systems (Don’t Hire a Crook, Dennis DeMay; James R. Flowers, Jr., 1999 Facts on Demand Press, pg. 88)
• 4.4% of all applicants admit to theft of cash from an employer.
  Source: Reid Psychological Systems (Don’t Hire a Crook, Dennis DeMay; James R. Flowers, Jr., 1999 Facts on Demand Press, pg. 88)
• 33% of all applicants admit to being tempted to steal from an employer.
  Source: Security Magazine, 3/97