On-demand employment background screening company, HireRight, Inc., recently released its 2008 HireRight Background Screening Benchmarking Report. Based on a comprehensive survey of security and human resources professionals, the report addresses not only key factors influencing employment screening programs today, but the scope, the methods used, as well as the types of background checks most commonly performed. In fact, according to the benchmarking report, the most common reasons for performing employment background and drug screening is to mitigate risk, improve the quality of hire, promote workplace safety, as well as meet regulatory compliance requirements. The report also reveals that there is an increased risk factor for firms that utilize contingent labor since extended workforces including consultants, contract labor, temporary and vendor personnel are screened only one-third as often as the permanent, full-time workforce. Additional key findings suggest that just over a third of all respondents indicated their organization conducts background checks internationally in some form and that job applicants are five times more likely to be screened than current employees, highlighting the existing employee risk that may exist at many companies. "We believe the 2008 HireRight Background Screening Benchmarking Report is a valuable tool organizations can use to assess their own screening programs in the context of the practices of their peers," says Rob Pickell, vice president of marketing and product management, HireRight, Inc. "Whether you are an employer looking to do background checking for the first time or already have a comprehensive screening program in place, this report can help you by providing a consolidated view into how other organizations are approaching their employment screening programs today."

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