The Importance of Drug Testing Before Hiring Employees

The hiring process can be a tedious and challenging phase for any company, especially when they do not only need to look into an applicant’s qualifications but also to his or her prior behavior.

Recruiting the right individual for the job is already a critical task on its own, but ensuring that this individual is not a potential risk to the company is another. Such prior behaviors may be related to criminal records, credit history, and more importantly, drug or substance abuse. What’s alarming is that such history is not things applicants usually divulge in a job interview, which is why many companies have been realizing the importance of pre-employment drug testing in Nevada.Importance of Drug Testing

Better Applicants Lead To Better Workers.

Ensuring that you have quality candidates for a job will help you to ensure quality workers and quality work done in the future. Eventually, this will also promote lower employee turnover within your business. One way to simply prevent drug or substance abusers from applying for the job is to initially disclose that you require background checks prior to hiring candidates, which will include drug screening tests. This will discourage those who are actually under drug influence and filter them from those who aren’t. You can also use the latest DOT drug screening methods before hiring a candidate. Conversely, qualified applicants who are not involved in any drug-related issue will represent themselves honestly and resume with the application. It will surely save time and cut costs in the recruitment process.

Non-Violent Employee Misconduct Will Be Effectively Avoided.

A pre-employment drug screening can successfully eliminate non-violent employee misconduct, which includes drug or substance abuse, theft of company assets, fraud, and identity theft, among others. Either way, individuals under the influence of drugs and other substances may eventually lead to these criminal acts when unidentified. Although it does not necessarily compromise your safety and your employees’, this misconduct can seriously damage your company’s integrity, lead to lost clients and profit and deflated employee morale. Subjecting your candidates for a pre-employment drug test is especially helpful in identifying those who have previous records of non-violent misconduct in the workplace. This can also be solidified through reference checking and employment verification.

The Risk of Negligent Hiring Litigation is Eliminated.

Negligent hiring means that employers are help responsible for any accidents or injuries that their employees may inflict on co-workers, customers, or any individual of the general public since this means that the employers have failed to appropriately implement the employment selection process. Employers may be held liable if they fail to carefully screen their candidates before hiring them. As a common sense guideline, employees who are regularly exposed to co-workers, clients, or the public may need a higher standard for reasonable during pre-employment. This may especially target those in positions of special trust, which include nurses, security personnel, and the likes.

To ensure reasonable care during the recruitment process, employers may implement consistent background checks as protocol. Such pre-employment checks may have to depend on the specifics of the job, and usually include drug testing, reference checks, and assessment of employment gaps in the applicant’s resume.

When dealing with illicit drugs and substances, it is imperative for employers to be safe than sorry for the benefit of the company and all those in it.

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