Wednesday, July 17, 2013

The Importance of Employee Vetting and Continuous Evaluation

In the past few months, employee vetting has been at the center of the debates regarding two major public relations nightmares.

One is the case of Edward Snowden, the Booze Allen employee who exposed the NSA’s PRISM program. Some have claimed Snowden provided false information on his resume yet somehow still successfully passed his background check. Gaining access to the information available in this position is what both prompted Edward Snowden to apply for the position and allowed him to expose the government’s dealings in dark data. In response, legislators are attempting to overhaul the background check and security clearance process.

The other is the current murder investigation focusing on former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez. When Hernandez played at the University of Florida, he began displaying a propensity for violence and even took a photo of himself with a glock. Over the past few years, Hernandez has been connected to many violent encounters which have ultimately been publicized in light of the current investigation. In response to the investigation, the New England Patriots released Hernandez and lost approximately $250,000 on a jersey swap program that allowed fans to swap out their Hernandez jerseys for another player’s. It also spurred EA to remove Hernandez from two upcoming game releases.

In both cases, officials and commentators often cite the failure to properly assess the employee’s background and character prior to employing them as one of the major causes for these incidents. These incidents have brought bad publicity to both organizations which could ultimately prove to be costly and fundamentally damage their reputations. To avoid making this mistake, it is important that organizations embrace a holistic approach to employee vetting that goes beyond standard background check objectives.

Traditional Background Checks Aren’t Enough

Most organizations employ a standardized method of employee vetting. Companies traditionally use premade application forms and a prepackaged public records background checks to complete their evaluation of candidates. However, as we havepreviously covered, public records data can often be inaccurate or out of date. Similarly, these premade application forms may no longer capture the information vital to the needs of an organization. Standardized methods do not provide a comprehensive means of evaluation, especially for visible and sensitive positions which require a deeper dive into the daily lives of individuals.

Recently, our analysts worked two cases which clearly demonstrate this point. We were asked by a client to investigate two individuals who were hired for security-based positions. These positions required individuals to have a clean criminal record, be drug free, and refrain from having connections to potentially harmful influences, such as gangs. Both of these employees indicated refraining from substance abuse in their applications, passed their drug tests, and showed no history of legal troubles in their public records searches. However, their social media footprints revealed a much different story. One individual had a history of posting stashes of drugs and money on his social media accounts as well as discussing his marijuana smoking habits. The other had a brother who was affiliated with a local gang; his brother posted photos of himself both smoking marijuana and standing in a field of marijuana. These social media investigations revealed that both employees posed potential security threats.

Continuous Evaluation is Necessary

Once employees are on the job, organizations cannot afford to go without continuous evaluation. The circumstances in employees’ lives can change. New financial hardships may arise which make them more susceptible to bribery. Individuals can make new connections to individuals and organizations which put them at risk. People can get into legal trouble during the course of employment. No matter what new circumstances may arise, periodic reinvestigations, similar to those done for security clearances, are necessary to ensure compliance with company regulations and policies. These evaluations can help head off any potential incidents before they manifest themselves.

The Value Added


When organizations conduct tailored, thorough employee vetting investigations and continuous evaluation, they can ensure they are doing their due diligence. This can help them control their image by finding obvious sources of data which exist in social media. Social media data can identify red flags during the pre-screening process which can help organizations avoid marring their reputations by curtailing public relations debacles. In a world in which inordinate amounts of information are available to the public, it is important for employers to ensure they access the intelligence vital to mitigating organizational risk.

About CES PRISM Blog

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The CES PRISM blog is the place where CES shares the newest developments in social media sites and tools, data analytics, eDiscovery, investigations, and intelligence. We will also share workflow tips and tricks, case studies, and the developmental progress of our open source social media research and analysis tool, PRISM. Our goal is to open a dialogue with the community which allows all of us to learn together.