Background Checks For Remote Workers — What To Know

In all cases, it is illegal to run a background check without informing your candidate. This is true for remote screenings as well.

Once you have permission from the candidate, running criminal, employment, and educational verifications for remote workers is fair game.

If the candidate is informed and agrees to the conditions, then you can and should run a complete background check.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) protects worker’s rights and needs to be followed to the letter to ensure a fair and proper background check takes place.

Remote workers may come from different states with unique laws, so always partner with a company like ScoutLogic that understands the regulations in every state to safeguard your business’s best interests and work within the law.

When you are hiring anyone, you plan to trust them with private information. That trust is elevated when working remotely.

You might send a candidate an office computer and give them passwords to sensitive information.
Remote employees pose a security threat not seen in the office.

The very same technology that makes remote work possible also gives new hires access to proprietary client and company information. Just because you work from the comfort of your own home does not mean you should forget the security precautions of the office.

The responsibility is on the hiring manager to protect the company from anyone who could pose a threat. Therefore, criminal convictions, motor vehicle records, education history, and employment history all need background screening before you can finish the hiring process.

You need to perform remote employee background checks for all the same reasons you need to perform in-person background checks. You owe it to both your company and fellow remote workers to hire someone who is telling the truth and has a backed-up resume.

Check out this brief checklist before you begin hiring any candidates remotely.

Make sure that in this new world of remote employees you still are comprehensive in scope and meticulous in detail.

Follow federal and local regulations

We can’t state this enough. You always need to consider the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) when it comes to background screening.

The FCRA regulates the fairness, accuracy, and privacy of your candidate throughout a screening. You may know the federal rules by heart, but the state laws all differ.

Before hiring remote employees, research the FCRA guidelines in their state and adhere to all the specific regulations. You risk legal action should you perform a background screening that does not adequately protect the candidate.

Expand & adapt the job’s qualifications

When hiring remote employees, you should look for qualities that go beyond the typical job description.

Fine-tune the desired qualifications of the position to find the most suitable person for the role. For example, if you’re hiring someone for an online teaching position, are they qualified or experienced in creating training materials specifically for an online audience? A classroom setting versus an online setting is worlds different, so the job advert should reflect that.

Also, get creative in learning a bit more about the candidates. For example, do they have out-of-work hobbies or commitments that demonstrate a self-starter personality type? Remote work requires a different level of proactiveness and discipline.

Search for experienced, tech-savvy candidates

Tech-minded candidates with prior experience working remotely will save you the time and money involved in training and buying new technological supports.

Consider what tech the candidate already has at home before hiring them, whether that’s a high-quality camera, good microphone, or even a professional video call background.

A top remote employee already knows they will be working from home and has set up their home office space to reflect that.