Employers, more than ever before, need to protect themselves against accidents and crimes committed by their employees. With negligent hiring, lawsuits, training costs, workplace violence and theft on the rise, pre-employment screening as well as taking the correct pre-employment screening steps are no longer an option, but rather a necessity for businesses.

The lapse in standard security practice that allowed Tareq and Michaele Salahi to get pass the nation’s top security service and into the close company of the most important man in the country (if not the world) is troubling for many. It is an illustration of how letting your guard down can allow anyone to come into the most private and sensitive environments where the end result of doing so can have very bad results.

Incidents occur all the time in which serious consequences result from eschewing a background check or security measure in favor of saving time, money or manpower. What will it take for people to realize that we’re living in times where lapses just can’t occur anymore? What if the Salahi’s glamorous image of international socialites hid a much darker agenda such as a radical political or religious belief? We might have been without a President after that night if you think about it.

Now, this was the first big state dinner for a high profile President and like any important event, you want everything to run smoothly and without incident. Heads of State, the top tier of Americas social elite and other distinguished guests…it’s not as easy as it looks to enforce standard security protocol when you possibly risk creating a very embarrassing situation by scrutinizing the wrong guest. However, those checks and screenings are there for a reason.

Given the circumstances, there were perhaps individuals heading security and others organizing the event that wanted to loosen the restrictions for the night. The Salahi’s lucked out in this instance and got their moment with Mr. Obama. Then again, someone with a concealed weapon and a bone to pick with President Obama could have lucked out on that, too.

It’s moments like this one in the employment process where someone will let their guard down for a moment of convenience and before they know it, a con man is handling thousands in company funds or a pedophile is responsible for keeping the day care clean.

The concerns and needs of the present should be weighed against the consequences that lay in the future when giving consideration to enforcing a background check policy or security protocol. There can be motives of all sorts for individuals wanting to slip under the radar. In the case of Salahi’s it was the opportunity to enjoy cocktail hour with the leader of the free world. Others may try avoiding detection for a past misdeed in the interest of gainful employment. For others, it may be the need to engage in criminal activity.

Because the investigation into Mr. and Mrs. Salahi is ongoing, we can’t draw concrete conclusions as to how exactly they got by but clearly the need to ensure that background checks are in place and properly utilized has been underscored. If a background check ends up costing you a little more money, slows down your operations for a day, so be it. It’s not worth letting the wrong person get by and it’s not worth letting the Salahi’s get by again either.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 at 6:09 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.