By now, it should be no secret that the opioid crisis in the United States is a deadly epidemic of epic proportions. In 2015, more than 9.5 million urine tests for drugs yielded positive results. Moreover, when people apply for jobs they often lie on their resume. According to a CareerBuilder survey, at least 58% of employers report finding lies on resumes. That is where background checks and drugs tests come into play. Many businesses today rely on employer background check services to make sure the people they hire are who they claim to be and can do what they claim they can.
By now, it should be no secret that the opioid crisis in the United States is a deadly epidemic of epic proportions. In 2015, more than 9.5 million urine tests for drugs yielded positive results. Moreover, when people apply for jobs they often lie on their resume. According to a CareerBuilder survey, at least 58% of employers report finding lies on resumes. That is where background checks and drugs tests come into play. Many businesses today rely on employer background check services to make sure the people they hire are who they claim to be and can do what they claim they can.
Now the Republic is reporting that some businesses are taking a second look at how they use employer background check services companies to help with the hiring process. The drug screening tests that many employers use are causing a lot of problems for many people who are looking for work. Employers like to test for drugs because when they are used, the implications can be enormous. In Indiana alone, it has been estimated that nearly 80% of the businesses have suffered as a result of workers abusing or misusing prescription medications, according to the National Safety Council.
The issue is that the drug screening tests for employment will rule out hundreds of job applicants every year. While some of the drug screenings do show that opioids have been used, most of the time, the drug that is found is marijuana. So many job applicants are aware of who tests for drugs that many simply do not apply because they are so concerned about how their results will come back.
Now that the unemployment rate has dropped, some companies are rethinking their policies on performing drug tests and using employer background check services. With the competition high for the workers who are out there, some businesses are letting certain things go when, in the past, those would have been disqualifying factors for applicants.
Nationwide, a decent percentage of job applicants fail drug tests every year. By some estimates, as many as one-quarter of all job applicants fail the drug screening test for employment. Some companies have to keep up the drug testing because it is a simple matter of safety and liability. To get around this, there are applicants who do things such as buy fake urine or take substances to make a test come back as clean even when they have drugs in their system.
Some job applicants have issues finding jobs because past criminal activity means they may not have access to transportation and they cannot pass the tests administered by employer background check services companies.
One company that is trying to help people who cannot pass the tests administered by employer background check services companies or have other problems because of a criminal record is Ditech. Not only do they actively try to help people who are working on recovery from a substance abuse problem but they work to help with issues around transportation as well. They try to give everyone a chance and one of the missions of the family-owned company is to help the people they hire.
Ditech currently has a workforce of 160 people. They say they started their program to help people who are in recovery, at least in part, because of the drop in the unemployment rate. They also collaborate with Job Corp to help people find employment. They have also worked with a company that helps people with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities to get the skills they need to get a job. While entry-level jobs are not too much of an issue at Ditech but when people have violent crimes or felonies that show up on reports from employer background check services companies, the situation changes.
NTN Driveshaft has a different view in this area. While they stick to their position on drug testing, they have a different view of crimes, including felonies. They say that they have no strict rule on criminal background checks and look at when the crimes were committed and what they were.