Effective Screening

How can an organisation manage the hazards associated with personnel selection and appointment? Recognising that a problem exists is perhaps the starting point, followed by a good, robust business continuity, risk management and HR policies and procedures in place to address it. Whilst much attention has been focused in recent times on preventing and detecting financial impropriety at the highest level in major corporations, risk exposure occurs at every level and in each and every section of an organisation; a factor which is still apparent due to the high number of cases that have come to light retrospectively having been detected rather than prevented, suggesting many existing HR and risk management processes and finding it a challenge to effectively prevent the risk occurring in the first place. Risk is not exclusively linked to the money or the power base.


Government clearly has an interest in the risk associated with the financial world and the corporations that control it, especially when an occurrence can impact the British economy and thereby influence the outcome of an election! The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats made much of the apparent link between the financial crisis in 2007 and Labour's mis-management of the economy and lack of control over the financial institutions in the last election. It was lucky or unlucky depending on your political perspective that a Labour Government was in power at the time - would a Conservative Government have faired any better? Would it have had the necessary systems in place to prevent, detect or deter it? Hindsight is, as always, a wonderful thing!


The gift of hindsight is not exclusive to Government, every organisation has it. The trick is, having the means by which its use and subsequent 'hindsight is a wonderful thing', can be avoided. Foresight and foreseeability are by far the better means to manage risk. In relation to the financial corporations and institutions, conduct (or perhaps more appropriately misconduct) is a core and current issue, with the vast wealth having the power to sway even the strongest of minds. How does one ensure compliance with the rules, procedures, codes, and something less prescriptive but nonetheless important, societal expectations associated with good governance and transparency? After all, it is society that elects, and deselects, a government.


The first question therefore for those with responsibility for such matters is to what extent and by what means does the organisation assess risk? Employee-related risk exposure in particular (the human element of an organisation) is an area that needs to be assessed? The supplementary question is, what processes, procedures and tools are available to help manage and control it in order to reach the highest level of prevention. When it comes to fraud prevention, detection and deterrence are key expectations for those who regulate; audit and process controls can address the mechanics but what about the 'soft' hazard - those involved in the misconduct, the element open to human interoperation, interaction and often error?


How do HR professionals assess risk prior to people selection and managers during appointments when in role? Understanding the psychology and behavioural characteristics of employees is key to establishing how likely it is that an individual will break the rules, and whether or not they have an undisclosed history. The history that is not highlighted in standard screening procedures which those individuals (particularly in the finance sector) who have exposed a company to risk, have been through already? 

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