A newly qualified teacher in South Africa typically earns around R33, 000 per month. Salaries range from R15, 800 to R60, 200. This would often include benefits.
Sadly when looking for work many people are so driven by what they can or want to earn that they forget what they need to bring to the company who they hope will employ them.
Most companies today are aware of the fact that employee screening and background checks are an essential element in the recruitment process but not everyone is aware of how trends have changed over the years. The most common global background check is still a criminal record check.
According to the South African Police Service, there is only a 48% chance of identifying people committing crime and the conviction rate is sitting at approximately 15%. This is one of the reasons that employers of people from or within South Africa should consider different forms of employee screening checks. Regrettably, not all background checks will identify potential risk and are geared to uncover issues that have happened in the past with a candidate. Fraud can hit organisations from various angles, and even though cybercrime and external fraud attacks are a huge risk and often many companies realise it is perpetrated from within after employing an individual.
In 2021, the top three reasons for conducting background checks were to:
● Protect employees and customers (76%)
● Improve the quality of hires (52%)
● Protect company reputation (41%)
One of the more proactive measures to include in your employee screening policy is integrity assessments.
Integrity means everything in the business world. Just ask American investment billionaire and philanthropist Warren Buffett, who has said he looks for three things when hiring people: intelligence, initiative, and integrity. However, he warns that if they do not have integrity, the first two will kill you.
Integrity International (INTEG) updates its statistics annually to measure the Annual Integrity Status by utilizing its 26 research centres around the globe. They report the movement of the Integrity Status – relative to the previous year’s statistics for Europe, Africa, South Africa, and globally.
The below subjects are the indicators used in the integrity assessments done by companies globally. Most integrity assessments are done pre-employment, but it is recommended that they are reviewed every two years to identify risk profiles.
Dr Fick is of the opinion integrity over the past two years has been impacted by the pandemic and says:
- Even Europe, which was known for having a relatively ‘stable’ Integrity Status, is becoming less stable with a strong indication that we can expect a drop in their Integrity Status (IS) over the next review period.
- There is sufficient reason to believe that the global Integrity Status is declining.
- Africa as a continent has a declining Integrity Status.
- South Africa is becoming internationally known as a questionable entity as far as the Integrity Status is concerned.
The beauty of integrity assessments is it can measure intention as opposed to reactively confirming what an employee or potential employee has actually done in the past. Regular integrity assessments and integrity training is something that all employers should consider.
Click here to view the iFacts Employee Screening Trends Report.