Screening new employees is a critical component to securing the supply chain, protecting products, and preventing disruptions and market share loss. Some of the examples of company-wide employee screening best practices include criminal background and credit checks, employee history reviews, and drug testing. Without proper employee screening practices in place, organizations run the risk of allowing criminal insiders having complete visibility into their supply chain. For example, cargo thieves in Latin America are known to embed individuals as employees in manufacturing facilities and logistics companies to more effectively target high-value shipments.
To mitigate the risk of hiring criminals, companies need to establish an effective employee screening program, which is especially important in the countries with significant threats. Such programs help to not only learn who you are doing business with, but also to prevent inventory theft. When developing the employee screening program, companies need to ensure that they remain compliant with local laws and privacy restrictions. Furthermore, every supply chain security government program, such as C-TPAT, PIP, and AEO, includes the component of employee screening practices. Implementing an employee screening program is a critical pre-requisite to working with government agencies.
