Three Social Media Screening Takeaways from HireRight’s Benchmark Survey
Learn more about recent trends in social media screening from HireRight's global survey responses to questions covering this topic in our 15th Annual Benchmark Survey.
In our 15th Annual Benchmark Survey, we asked over 2,300 human resources and risk professionals from around the world to share their insights into, and experiences of, background screening, talent acquisition, and remote working within their organizations.
Here are three key takeaways about social media screening, based on the global survey responses to questions covering this topic in our last Benchmark Survey:
Many employers are taking a ‘do-it-yourself’ approach to social media screening
Many employers worldwide review their candidates’ public social media profiles prior to interview as part of their recruitment processes. This is most common in EMEA, where 43% said this was the case, followed by APAC with 36% and North America with 28%.
While many may see this as standard practice, employers should be careful to avoid viewing an individual’s protected characteristics or class information – including their race, religion, or sexual orientation –as these factors must not be considered when making any employment decisions.
By utilizing a third-party social media screening provider, employers are shielded from these types of information, as they are filtered out before the search results are shared with the employer, helping to reduce the risk of unconscious bias impacting recruitment processes.
Social media screening is being used to help to mitigate the risks of remote working
According to our survey respondents, some businesses have already introduced social media screening to help mitigate the risks of their remote/hybrid workforces. Around a fifth of respondents from EMEA and APAC, and one in 10 respondents from North America, said their company had introduced social media screening prior to 2022 for these reasons.
“Social media searches reveal additional real-time insights into how someone interacts with others (comments on posts), expresses themselves (their own posts), and their opinions (the ‘like’ button),” said Caroline Smith, VP Deputy General Counsel, International at HireRight.
“Interestingly, and perhaps one of the most powerful applications of the social media check, is that ongoing checks can reveal critical changes in those behaviours, making it a powerful risk management tool when used for ongoing monitoring.”
Businesses in APAC are the most likely to consider introducing social media screening in 2022
Our Benchmark Survey found that 30% of APAC respondents, 19% of EMEA respondents, and 13% of North American respondents were considering introducing social media screening in 2022 to help mitigate the risks of their remote/hybrid workforce. This was the check most widely considered in each of these regions.
If all the businesses considering social media screening introduced it in 2022, and those already using it continued to do so, over half (51%) of APAC respondents and nearly two-fifths (38%) of EMEA respondents would be using social media screening. This is a big uptick from just 15% of APAC respondents and 10% of EMEA respondents who said they used social media search in HireRight’s 2021 Global Benchmark Survey.
“More and more employers are adding social media checks to their background screening toolkit,” said Ben Mones, CEO and Founder of Fama, HireRight’s social media screening vendor partner. “Most start doing it manually or 'in house' and quickly find that running these checks in a way that is comprehensive, consistent, and legally compliant presents a wide array of challenges.”
“A third-party social media search can leverage a combination of AI-based software and human analysis to quickly conduct a robust and extensive search of an individual’s publicly available social media information.”
Find out more about more about Social Media Screening at HireRight on our website.
Read more about how social media screening can help to mitigate employment risk in Caroline Smith’s article, The Social Threat, on HRZone.
For more global trends on background screening, talent acquisition, and remote working, download our 15th Annual Benchmark Report.
Release Date: February 14, 2023
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HireRight is a leading provider of on-demand employment background checks, drug and health screening, and electronic Form I-9 and E-Verify solutions that help employers automate, manage and control background screening and related programs.
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