Is the Economy Affecting Your Background Check Process?
Companies all over the country are seeing their budgets shrink and more funds are being allocated to the pre-employment screening process now, more than ever. It seems like costs have increased for everything from break-room supplies to criminal history checks.
It’s true that a lot of background screening companies have increased their fees to compensate for smaller margins due to higher prices in fuel, technology and taxes. A different trend seems to be assisting the increase in costs as well; increased court access and motor vehicle records fees.
In this depressed economy, more states and counties are either instituting a Court Access Fee or are no longer “waiving” the fees that they have had in place for years. More and more court researchers are paying out of their own pocket when accessing these records, and then they must wait to get reimbursed from their clients. Government agencies are seeing the access to public records as a fairly easy way to gain revenue that was otherwise never even imagined. And courts across the country have ruled that as long as the fees are fair and are not preventing the average person from accessing these public records, then it is legal to collect these fees.
What does this mean to you, the client? In short it means higher prices. Some pre-employment screening companies will charge a percentage on top of the court or state fee and make a profit off of that. Some companies simply pass the cost onto the client, without mark-up. Some companies take it a step further and have actually reduced their costs of certain searches to help mitigate the effect of higher Court Access Fees.
It’s important to know what your screening company’s policies are when it comes to 3rd Party Access Fees. Just because you are seeing an increase in your invoice, doesn’t necessarily mean that your provider is putting more money in their pocket. Each vendor is different in how they handle their access fees. Make sure to ask questions of your vendor to ensure you are saving money. Even a couple of bucks on a background check will add up at the end of the year.
Employers Investigative Services strives to be as transparent as possible when it comes to collecting court and state fees. Clients of Employers Investigative Services enjoy the knowledge that they do not have to pay any marked-up access fees and some of the lowest prices in the industry.
For more information to compare your current provider with Employers Investigative Services, contact Jeremy Lockett at:jlockett@eischecks.com or call toll free: 866.350.5638 ext 11.