Here are some of our stories that give us reason to keep doing what we do and why outsourcing to professionals can make a difference to your company.

• When a Candidate responds “No I do not have a criminal record”, naturally you want to believe that person, but sadly today you cannot. Laws now against the business owner (Bill C-45) designed to protect your existing employees you now need to run a CPIC Criminal Search.  We have found 11% or a little over 1 in 10 applicants have a record…they are banking on that you do not search. Some areas like call centers run upwards of 20%, so do that check.
  
  
• Employment, be aware candidates will try many things to get into your company if they have a sketchy work history.
  
  
• A client gave us three past employer’s the candidate said he worked for to verify. When our staff called they were greeted with hang-ups and very poor English making it difficult to communicate. When a senior staff took over the file we were very suspicious with the answers so we checked the consent form and a Credit Report was signed off by the candidate. We ran that and as it list three past employers none of those were on the list we were given. It was all friends of the candidate looking to give their two cents.
  
  
• When things go bad at an employer they can bury them, What we mean is go back two employers and stretch the last day date ahead and go to the last employer and stretch back the start date now there is no third company and the dates match…smart eh!
  
  
• Supplying a past employer and the person never worked there but a friend answers the phone to give the reference.
  
  
• Professional Employers, a business were a person sits by a phone in a unknown location answering several lines verifying bogus employment.
  
  
• Education Verification, well there are many stories here, Buildings with structural failures from a bogus Engineer’s Degree, Accountant’s that steal thousands  but they have no degree. Diploma mills are prevalent with Diplomas with seals and bogus call centers to verify callers. You thought you hired a certified professional, not a con. At People Tracks we not only confirm education levels and transcripts but every educational institution is check to validate it is an actual licenced education training facility not a diploma mill. 

A good reason to conduct criminal checks at point of hire and routinely to avoid a violent offender in your workplace….it is a Criminal Offence not to protect your employees.

1.  Subsection 1 (1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act is amended by adding the following definitions:
“workplace harassment” means engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct against a worker in a workplace that is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome; (“harcèlement au travail”)
“workplace violence” means,
  (a)  the exercise of physical force by a person against a worker, in a workplace, that causes or could cause physical injury to the worker,

Full Article:  http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_detail.do?locale=en&BillID=2181

Bill C-45 is federal legislation that amended the Canadian Criminal Code and became law on March 31, 2004. The Bill established new legal duties for workplace health and safety, and imposed serious penalties for violations that result in injuries or death. The Bill provided new rules for attributing criminal liability to organizations, including corporations, their representatives and those who direct the work of others.

New Sections of the Criminal Code
Bill C-45 added Section 217.1 to the Criminal Code which reads:

"217.1 Every one who undertakes, or has the authority, to direct how another person does work or performs a task is under a legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent bodily harm to that person, or any other person, arising from that work or task."

Bill C-45 also added Sections 22.1 and 22.2 to the Criminal Code imposing criminal liability on organizations and its representatives for negligence (22.1) and other offences (22.2).

Full Article: http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/dept-min/pub/c45/

The Canadian Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) Guideline E-17 sets forth principles to assist Federally Regulated Entities (FREs) with establishing policies and procedures regarding their assessments of the suitability and integrity of their directors, principal officers, chief agents, and senior management (“Responsible Persons”). As of January 31, 2009, the background checks conducted by FREs on their Responsible Persons must be in compliance with Guideline E-17.

Per Guideline E-17, all Responsible Persons must be subject to a thorough background check upon initial appointment to their position. These individuals must likewise undergo routine, ongoing assessments during the tenure of their positions. Such assessments are used to gauge the continued suitability and integrity of these Responsible Persons. OSFI expects every FRE to have a written policy regarding the performance of assessments of their Responsible Persons.

Which entities may be affected by E-17?
Guideline E-17

Banks and bank holding companies
Insurance companies and insurance holding companies
Trust and loan companies
Co-operative credit associations
Retail associations
More detailed definitions may be found in the full text of OSFI Gu

Full Article http://www.osfi-bsif.gc.ca

Wency Leung, Globe and Mail Blog

Your Facebook profile says more about you than you may think, including how well you work. A new study by a professor at Northern Illinois University’s college of business and a team of researchers has found that even five to 10 minutes of browsing through someone’s Facebook profile can provide a strong idea of what they’d be like as workers.

A quick skim can even serve as a better predictor of one’s job performance than personality surveys, which human resources departments commonly used to screen job applicants, according to the university’s website.
Until now, there hasn’t been the science to support the value of employers perusing applicants’ Facebook profiles, even though many have been doing so practically since the site was launched.

“A lot of actions are taken based on Facebook profiles – people are hired, fired, suspended – but this is the first study to systematically examine whether using Facebook to help make such decisions has any validity,” assistant professor and lead author Don Kluemper said.

In an experiment, the researchers asked a group of participants to complete a standard personality survey, while independent raters examined their Facebook profiles. They found the raters were able to get a surprisingly accurate picture of the participants’ personalities.

“Based upon other studies, we were able to conclude that after a five-minute perusal of a Facebook page, raters were able to answer questions regarding the subject about as reliably as would be expected of a significant other or close friend,” Dr. Kluemper said.

Six months later, the researchers compared their ratings with employers’ performance evaluations of the participants. The scores derived from raters’ assessments of their Facebook profiles provided a more accurate prediction of their job performance than participants’ own scores from their self-reported survey.

In a separate experiment, the researchers found scores based on students’ Facebook pages were also better predictors of academic success than the results of personality and IQ tests.

Dr. Kluemper suggested this could be partly because of the wealth of information that Facebook provides, such as the tone of the language used, musical and cultural preferences, and photos of friends and social scenarios. He also said it can be difficult for Facebook users to put up a false front on the social media site, whereas with personality surveys, people can answer how they think others want them to respond.

He noted, however, there are potential legal barriers to using Facebook to screen job applicants, but his research indicates how powerful it can be a human resources tool.

What does your Facebook profile say about you?