The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics has projected a 23.4 percent increase in the number of jobs for custodians and cleaning workers, including maids and housekeeping cleaners, from 1996 to 2006.

But contract cleaners and facility managers can't chance hiring just anyone, no matter how tight the labor market. Maintenance workers are handed the keys to million-dollar computer rooms, antique-filled private residences and schools populated by children. To ensure that employees are trustworthy, employers are turning to background checks.

If you decide to do pre-employment background checks, you cannot be selective about which employees you choose to investigate because you could open yourself up to charges of discrimination.

You can, however, choose to check applicants just in certain types of jobs. For example, you could run credit report checks on employees handling money, or a driving record check for those using vehicles on the job, or a criminal history check for those who have contact with children.

While background checking can be done by an individual manager, it's a tedious labor-intensive process, especially when an applicant's criminal history is investigated. As a result, many facility managers and contract cleaners turn to firms that specialize in the practice.

"It's better than doing it yourself [since] they are experts in this," says James Brewer, executive housekeeper at the University of Texas at Arlington, and a member of the advisory board of Cleaning & Maintenance Management magazine. "They'll get it back fast and furious and will get stuff you don't know how to do."

Price check

The cost of background checks can vary depending on your needs, says Peter Rader, owner of Lenape Data Retrievers, Greenwood Lake, NY. For a fee ranging from $65 to $95, Rader will do a background check that includes an applicant's criminal record, driving history and verification of Social Security number.

Neil Clark, executive director of HireSmart, an employment consulting firm in Mesa, AZ, provided a more detailed price list for services his company offers:

 Credit report, $25
 Verification of past employment, $20
 Educational credentials verification, $20
 Reference check, $20
 Criminal history report, $30
 Driving record, $15
 Workers' compensation filings, $15.

David Frank, marketing research consultant with Boise, ID-based backpack vacuum manufacturer Pro-Team, Inc., says he wonders how companies with a high rate of employee turnover, like that found in the cleaning maintenance industry, can afford to do background checks.

He cites the example of one of his accounts that hired more than 120 employees in one month.

"I agree with it in theory, but the expense for this customer is over $3,000 in one month, plus training costs. Many people only work for a few days and then quit. This is a challenge," says Frank.

Recent surveys conducted by CMM bear out Frank's concern. CMM research found that turnover in the contract cleaning industry is as high as 300 percent a year. For in-house cleaning staffs the rate averages 85 percent, climbing as high as 248 percent in office buildings and dropping to as low as 64 percent in hotels, motels and resort facilities.

Curbing costs

To save money, Brewer suggests that a request for bids be sent out to a dozen or so background check providers. Although he looks for ways to lower the cost of background checks, he is emphatic about their necessity: "If an employee steals one damn computer, then that security check has paid for itself a hundred times," not to mention what a theft "does to my reputation."

Mark Herbick, owner of Capital Cleaning Systems, Inc. in the Chicago area and also a CMM advisory board member, trims background check costs in a couple of ways. He runs checks on supervisors but not his cleaners, since most are recent immigrants to the US. "There's barely a record even of their existence," he says.

Instead, Capital Cleaning relies on checking with previous employers and drug testing. (See "Saying yes - or no - to drug testing," CMM, May 1998, for guidelines.) He also uses an association of retail companies that screens its retail-cleaner applicants for $1.50 each to discover if they have stolen from other association members.

And one other technique he uses involves the reaction he gets when he tells the applicant he will be conducting a criminal check. Herbick says, at that point, those with criminal records often "eliminate themselves as a candidate."

Who pays?

Most employers foot the bill for the background check, but a few pass the costs onto their newly hired employees. For example, applicants for jobs with Central Property Services in Pittsburgh are asked to sign a waiver that allows the company to deduct the $30 background check charge in two payments from pay checks if the applicants are hired.

For those applicants not hired after a background check is conducted, the company pays. "It is the feeling of our company that it is a price worth paying to assure, as much as is possible, that those we are placing in positions with keys, time and customer welfare meet a standard," says Carol Bush, project manager for Central Property at Carnegie Mellon University.

When she ran her own cleaning business, Bush required that employees provide their own state police check at a cost of about $12. "I feel that when someone gives me the keys to their business, the least I can do is give them some assurances. I also feel I should be able to ask the same from those who want to work for me."

Ken McGeough, owner of Formal Maintenance Services, a Buffalo, NY-based janitorial services firm, also has prospective employees foot the bill for their own background checks and submit a copy of their own police record. "Most often, the ones who appear undesirable never come back," McGeough says.

But Ed Samson, owner of Northbrook IL-based Ameri-Clean Commercial, says he's amazed that Bush and McGeough can get prospective employees to pay for a background check in such a tight labor market. He also raises the moral issue of asking someone applying for a $7 per hour job to absorb that cost.

"I don't think I would pay $30 to get a job that pays $7 or $8 per hour. Would you?" asks Samson. He would like to charge those not hired, but doesn't see a way that can be accomplished.

Another tactic to save money on background checks is to hire applicants through sources that do their own background checking such as the church-based human service agencies, county family centers, immigration agencies and state departments of labor.

Other ways to screen

As telling as background checks can be, sometimes the interview process can provide a wealth of information to help weed out potential problem employees. For Dan Wimmers, operations manager of COIT Services, Portland, OR, it's simply too expensive to do a background check on everyone he hires, so he relies heavily on the interview phase of the hiring process.

He asks his applicants questions that he believes give insight into their character. For example, "What is the most aggravating or difficult situation you experienced on your past jobs?" followed by "How did you handle it?" and "What would you have done differently?"

Jeff Wooldridge, assistant manager for building services at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, pays attention to the applicant's tone of voice and body posture during an interview. He also watches for signs of defensiveness, and whether the applicant looks him in the eye when responding to questions.

Wooldridge advises that applicants be asked about any gaps in their employment or education history. "They might have been in the military or the penitentiary. Who knows, but it's your [right] to ask," he says.

But not everyone in the cleaning maintenance industry believes you can rely on the interview to find out about a potential employee's character or expect that applicant to be totally forthcoming.

Patti Savelle, president of Bishop Clean Care Services, Albany, GA, says that even though she gives applicants an opportunity to disclose any information that may appear on the background check, they rarely do. She still is amazed by the person her company was ready to hire as a carpet cleaner until his background check came back - it was 13 pages long, and included evidence of rape, incest and child molestation. "Was that worth 8 bucks?," asks Savelle. "From what we learned, I'll pay the charge all day long and sleep better at night."

Sometimes applicants won't disclose criminal histories because they believe their records have been expunged if they served their time, paid court-ordered costs and didn't violate parole. What applicants often don't realize, says Wooldridge, is that they must petition the court to expunge their record; it does not happen automatically.

Brewer says that he has had success weeding out bad applicants by saying that driving may be required and asking for a driver's license number on the application. If an applicant does not have a driver's license, that's a red flag that "they've had a problem," he says.

He also disqualifies any applicants who cannot demonstrate that they have been employed by a single employer for 12 consecutive months during the past three years. "If they can't give you that, they are likely to be a problem," says Brewer.

Short-term screening

Sometimes the best way to judge ability and character of potential employees is to watch them work.

Eric Shawn, plant manager at Catlin Gable School, Portland, OR, uses temporary employment as a way to screen out potential problem employees. "After a short period of time I see the results, the strengths and weaknesses. Time tends to get past streetwise workers with advanced `BS' skills. The inability to sustain a long-term focus [sometimes because of drug use] becomes obvious."

Brewer agrees that temporary employment is useful. His university contracts with a temporary employment agency that is responsible for running the background checks. If his school decides to hire the employee permanently after the 90-day grace period, it uses internal university police to do a second background check.

The search process

Before beginning a background check, most firms that conduct them need a copy of the written application and a signed release from applicants stating they understand a background check will be undertaken. They also ask for assurances that the spelling of the applicant's name is accurate because county courthouse records are searched by name, and want to know if the applicant ever used any other names. You also may have to supply the search company with the applicant's date of birth, which is needed for some searches of county records.

While most of the private investigation agencies boast a turnaround time of 24 hours or less, this is only for those records available with a database search. Be cautioned that database searches are usually not thorough. Rader's firm, like most, use freelance "runners" to visit the local courthouse and pull the county records.

And, if the county has not separated its public records from its private records, investigators cannot access the records themselves. Instead, they must supply a request to the county clerk and wait several days for the results.

Using background information

Once the background check is completed, managers are faced with the daunting task of deciding how to use the information it yields. Does finding out that job applicants have a criminal record automatically disqualify them from a job? Not necessarily.

Roger Cox of the Department of Housing and Food Services at Colorado State University, says that just because someone has a record does not mean they are automatically disqualified. It depends on what the infraction was and the circumstances surrounding it, as well as if the applicant has "seen the light."

Even a public school system can be understanding about some criminal activity in a job applicant's past. The K-12 Napa Valley Unified School District where Catherine Keefe is the lead custodian requires that all custodians have a background check. The local police department does a local background check, then a deeper check is undertaken. The superintendent of human resources personally meets with any employees whose background checks could disqualify them. It is up to the superintendant to make the final hiring decision.

"The superintendent is very careful when granting permission to hire certain people. I'm sure these things that show up on the checks are very, very minor infractions," says Keefe, adding that some of the best people she has working for her did not clear the check but were able to provide an adequate explanation.

Wooldridge says Colorado State University looks for substance abuse problems and if the applicant is addressing them, and assault and robbery convictions. "We are more concerned with recent issues than older ones with no subsequent convictions. We all do stupid things - some learn, some don't, for some it's a way of life." He says the university also is less concerned with crimes committed during the high school or college years, as long as the court-mandated punishments were met.

But with some applicants, it's blatantly obvious they should not be hired. "The candidate I had with three assaults a year apart that were never his fault? Folks, that's a loser from a mile away." Wooldridge says.

Ripple effect

An additional benefit to conducting background checks comes once word gets out that employees must submit to them.

Glen Hammer of A Matter Of Fact, a San Jose, CA-based employee screening firm, says the caliber of the applicants improves because those with criminal backgrounds no longer will bother to apply and quality employees are attracted to organizations where high standards are in force. Both these factors tend to lead to lower turnover.

Savelle backs up Hammer's contention. "The word must be out that we have this [background check] requirement because the number of negative reports that come back has gotten smaller and smaller and the quality of the applicants are better."

Hammer suggests that a contract cleaning company should use the fact that it conducts employee background checks as a marketing advantage, especially when bidding jobs for organizations where security is a top priority, such as schools and private residences.

No guarantees

Clean background checks may provide cleaning and facility managers with some peace of mind, but they also may create a false sense of security about employees. Consider the experience of Cornelius Coleman, co-owner and operations manager of Mom's Housekeeping Service, Grand Rapids, MI.

Last year, Coleman had two employees involved in theft. They found that only one of the employees had a criminal record. While a background check may have averted one theft, the other was a first-time offense.

Knowing that risk, Carol Bush still endorses background checks. "Clean criminal history checks do not mean honest workers, but it is better than nothing."

Lisa Valentine is a free-lance writer in Ballston Spa, NY.

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