Last year, more companies had their employees screened before hiring. The number of screening requests rose to an average of about 5,000 per month in 2022. In the first half of 2023, the number stood at more than 5,700, up more than 14 percent from last year. Employees with tenure were also screened more frequently.
The pressure on the labor market is unabated, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reported earlier this month. For example, there are currently more job vacancies than unemployed people. For every 100 job seekers, there are 122 vacancies. While unemployment fell by 7,000 in the second quarter, 7,000 new jobs were added at the same time. The number of job openings decreased by nearly 10,000 to 427,000.
With this tight labor market, you would expect employers to be less critical when recruiting new staff. Nothing could be further from the truth, however. Figures from Validata Group for the first six months of 2023 show that the number of requests for pre-employment and in-employment screening has increased sharply compared to previous years.
In 2021, the company received an average of more than 4,000 requests to vet (potential) employees. In 2022, the number of requests rose to about 5,000 per month. In the first half of this year, the tally stood at more than 5,7,000 screening requests. That is an increase of more than 14 percent from last year, converted.
Particularly in the business and financial sectors, employers are increasingly requesting screenings. The number of requests for screenings in these sectors increased by nearly 48 percent in 2022. In the first six months of 2023, the number of screening requests increased by nearly a quarter.
According to Validata Group, what candidates or employees are screened for varies by industry. Sometimes the company only needs to check that an applicant is not lying about degrees and work experience obtained. In other cases, the company checks to see if a candidate has large debts or a criminal record.
Business and financial services companies had their employees screened more often this year. In the first half, in-employment screenings accounted for 10.7 percent of all screening requests. This compares to 3.8 percent in 2022.
Harm Voogt, CEO of Validata Group, emphasizes that employers have candidates and staff screened for a reason. "Employers have more of a need to hedge risks. Repeated screening is the solution to that." Because of complex laws and regulations, companies are increasingly outsourcing this.
The fact that employees are increasingly working from home is reason to screen them more often. "In general, the growth in screenings can also be explained by the number of home-based workers, which, while not as high as in 2021, is still significant. Working from home is now a part of life. Employers have less visibility into their employees and screening is confirmation that they did choose the right candidate. Screening people who work remotely will increase," Voogt said.
There are many strict conditions and rules for screening job applicants. We have described these in our background article 'Job application and privacy: these are your rights and obligations'. In it we also extensively discuss the rules for processing and storing personal data, rights and obligations in the event of a pre-screening, and what recruiters may and may not ask during a job interview.
