The Importance of Pre-Employment Polygraph Testing

PE 1 - The Importance of Pre-Employment Polygraph Testing

Pre-Employments: Not Simply A Luxury

Health insurance companies advocates for healthy lifestyles and happily provides advice, special offers, promotions and incentives to help and support their clients to live healthy lifestyles. Not to mention the call for lock and key when insuring our everyday items.  This is because they know that prevention is a lot more cost effective than cure. We believe they do make a great point . . .

It is almost impossible to put an accurate figure on how much a company will save by implementing prudent and responsible security measures, in the same way that we can’t predict the overall savings of proper insurance on our belongings and health. What we do know is that the effects of criminal and unethical behaviour on a business can be devastating to your bottom line, your reputation and the morale of your employees. In some cases it can even be fatal.

When it comes to security at a business we are soon to forget the core on which any business is built: humans. So while we are quick to add another layer of electrified fencing to our gate, we are often careless to even consider who it is that we give the gate key to.  Now consider that you can have a camera in every corner of your office, but it is a human that is responsible for operating them.

With the high demand for employment in South Africa it is unfortunate that it is not unusual for potential employees to deceive potential employers, either to gain an illegitimate advantage over their competition, or even for far more sinister reasons. Syndicates and criminal groups use employees to gain access to your place of business potentially putting yourself, your company, your employees and your clients at risk.

“History has taught us: never underestimate the amount of money, time, and effort someone will expend to thwart a security system. It’s always better to assume the worst. Assume your adversaries are better than they are. Assume science and technology will soon be able to do things they cannot yet. Give yourself a margin for error. Give yourself more security than you need today. When the unexpected happens, you’ll be glad you did.” — Bruce Schneier

Every security system in the world has its limitations; however the pre-employment examination offers the company that you care for a new layer of preemptive protection and a peace of mind that can only be provided by clarity.

Any decision made without proper knowledge is at best a guess, at worst a potential disaster the consequences of which could reverberate through the company for many years. The fact is that by utilising the pre-employment examination any company can potentially save themselves the time, money and resources spent on arbitration and investigations in the future, not to mention the potential damage that can be caused by criminal acts in itself and the further damage to the company’s reputation and morale.

Any company is responsible for the well being of themselves, their employees and their clients, and the pre-employment examination is an essential tool in fulfilling that responsibility. Due to the massive advantage that this examination can provide any company it should no longer be considered a luxury, but rather a necessity for the safety and security of all involved.

Charles Allen Kemp

17 July 2016