Criminal checks

If you watch this space and read the news, you might think that everyone is ramping up their use of background checks in hiring. You’d be wrong. An example of someone who’s resisting the trend is Steve Mangan, general manager of Indiana Memorial Union Dining Services at Indiana University.

In a story titled, “Hiring practices might ‘burn’ IMU Dining Services,” the Indiana Daily Student (IDS) tells us that Dining Services is one of the few university departments that doesn’t do background checks on everyone. Mangan and his supervisors do background checks when the law or university policies mandate it. That means they check the criminal history of anyone who handles money, takes inventory or serves in a supervisory role.

Mangan isn’t worried about hiring a convicted felon or two. According to the paper, “he has done just that on multiple occasions – both knowingly and unknowingly.”

For me that’s really scary. Hiring decisions should be made on the basis of qualifications and fitness. You may choose to hire someone with a criminal past, but that should be a conscious decision after weighing all factors.

Another thing that’s scary is that Dining Services isn’t doing background checks because of the cost. I would ask: […]