Challenge
An up-and-coming business consultancy firm found itself getting morally and financially upset after it hired an aversive personality for the position of a senior manager. This person was highly recommended by a very good friend of the Managing Director of the consultancy firm, and the recommendation was presumed worthful by itself since the Managing Director’s reference himself commanded a highly respectable position in his organisation.
A few months after his hiring as senior manager, this person would not sincerely perform any of his duties and would make the environment worse by displaying antipathetic behaviour towards his juniors, rather than collaborating with them. However, what upset the management deeply was when the manager did the most detestable act in the workplace ever imaginable: he had touched a female junior subordinate inappropriately within the office premises.
Solution
Since the pre-employment due diligence did not apply, Stern Screening was summoned to perform on-the-job due diligence on the manager. The due diligence cut through to the heart of the situation. A digital forensic analysis of the manager’s workstation computer found that he spent no less than 186 hours browsing internet websites whose subject matter was intended for adults, and which directly violated the IT laws of the company. 186 hours are virtually equivalent to an entire month spent by an average worker in the workplace; in the manager’s case, they were being spent to stoke arguably malignant intent within the organisation.
Conclusion
While we do not question the Managing Director’s decision to hire someone whose reference is unquestionable, we can clearly see how this decision jolted the company. We believe no organisation would want such incidence to recur in their workplace, and would rather have pre-employment background screening provisions in place.