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Weclome | Welcome to the May issue of the Examiner! This month we give you tips on what to watch out for when conducting online background checks, and steps you can take to reduce the likelihood of violence in the workplace.
As always, please feel free to send comments and/or suggestions to us!
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| 5 Caveats Before Conducting Background Checks Online (more...)
The 30th Anniversary of Spam (more...)
Dealing with Workplace Violence (more...)
Web sites Make it Easier to Spy on Your Friends (more...)
Conquering the Gender Divide (more...)
Contact Information (more)
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| 5 Caveats Before Conducting Background Checks Online | The rise in popularity of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace and search engines like Google has prompted interest among employers that want to use them for background checks and recruiting purposes.
When doing a background check on line employers must still be careful to avoid attaining and using information in a discriminatory way, not break any privacy laws, and make sure that the information obtained is accurate (you can’t believe everything you see on the Internet). "Although there is no federal law that prohibits the use of public websites as a screening tool, employers should use caution as there is the possibility that the applicant did not post the information" states Timothy Whiting, Vice President with Credential Check Corporation.
Under federal law, employers can generally use social networking sites for background checks provided that:
- The site is readily available to the public. It is important to read the terms of service posted on the sites.
- The employer doesn't have to create an alias to gain access. If an employer uses subterfuge to gain access, the company could face liability.
- The employer doesn't have to provide false information to gain access to the sites. Using false information to gain access could come back to bite an employer in court.
- The employer does not use information for discriminatory purposes in violation of federal, state, or local law.
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| The 30th Anniversary of Spam | A marketer for the now defunct DEC computer company sent the first spam email May 3, 1978. It was an invitation to a product launch sent to 400 people. It was not called spam in 1978 and it was not sent with malicious intent.
According to researchers, Spam got its name from a skit by the television show "Monty Python's Flying Circus," in which a group of Vikings in a restaurant that serves all of its food with Spam tinned meat sing a song repeating the word ad nauseum.
A Few Spam Facts:
The percentage of spam sent to Gmail account holders quadrupled between 2004 and 2008, climbing from 20 percent to around 80 percent.
The first sender of spam had to type each recipient’s address individually, today the job is done remotely using botnets.
Botnets have hijacked around 30 percent of personal and office computers with inadequate security features. Thousands of spams are sent from these hijacked computers each day.
The most common form of spam remains the unsolicited message that tries to sell a product. 12 percent of internet users have bought something offered to them through spam.
In 2007, internet fraudsters tricked Americans into parting with 239 million dollars.
Source: www.abs-cbnews
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| Dealing with Workplace Violence | Today the phrase workplace violence covers everything from bullying emails and verbal threats to physical attacks. Who is behind the violence? The person(s) behind the violence can be anyone from strangers coming into the business specifically to commit a crime, an angry customer, or fellow employee to the spouse of an employee who brings a domestic conflict into the workplace.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ surveyed 7.1 million private businesses for their 2006 report “Survey of Workplace Violence Prevention” and found that nearly 5% had an incident within the last 12 months. Yet more than 70 percent of U.S. workplaces do not have a formal program or policy that addresses violence in the workplace.
An employer can reduce the likelihood of workplace violence and lessen its impact if it does occur by:
- Thoroughly assessing the organization’s policies, procedures and resources relating to safety, and if a policy relating to workplace violence does not exist develop one for both prevention and crisis management.
- Developing fair and equitable human resources policies, such those relating to performance reviews, discipline and promotions and be diligent about reference and background checks.
- Being prompt and consistent in rooting out workplace harassment and discrimination.
- Providing training for managers and supervisors in employee relations and conflict resolution skills. They should understand when the authorities need be called and when a referral to an employee assistance program would be appropriate.
- Offering employee education programs in stress management, anger management, conflict resolution and personal security measures.
- Staying up-to-date on best practices in safety technology such as the use of cameras, metal detectors and access control technology.
- Training security staff in defusing volatile situations.
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| Web sites Make it Easier to Spy on Your Friends | Though none of these sites can reveal anything that isn’t already available publicly, they can make it much easier to find. And most of them are free.
- ZabaSearch.com turns up public records such as criminal history and birthdates.
- Spock.com and Wink.com are "people-search engines" that specialize in digging up personal pages, such as social-networking profiles, buried deep in the Web.
- Spokeo.com is a search site that lets users see what their friends are doing on other Web sites.
- Zillow.com estimates the value of people's homes.
- Jigsaw.com lets people share details with each other from business cards they've collected -- a sort of gray market for Rolodex data.
The Web sites, for their part, say they're merely trying to provide services that people will find useful and entertaining. Ray Chen, a cofounder of Spokeo, says he and his partners "don't want to stalk people." Instead, he says, "we're just trying to make something that's fun to use." Zaba CEO Nick Matzorkis says the dissemination of public information online is "a 21st century reality with or without ZabaSearch."
There is no foolproof way to protect yourself from embarrassing personal-data leaks. But you can avoid many mishaps by going to the root of the leak -- that is, by keeping individual pieces of personal data from being made public in the first place. If you don't want people to find your address online, for example, don't list it in local phone books, which often provide data to online address-search services. If you don't want others to see your Amazon wish list or the photos you've stored on Flickr, visit those sites' privacy pages and adjust your settings accordingly.
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| Conquering the Gender Divide | Biological Differences Can Harm the Work Environment
I came across an interesting article yesterday about the workplace and how it’s affected by gender misunderstandings. Published by HR.com, the article, “Misinterpreting Gender Differences: A Recipe For Organizational Failure,” is an adaptation of the book, Leadership and the Sexes: Using Gender Science to Create Success in Business, by Michael Gurian and Barbara Annis. Obviously a workplace can be difficult without understanding between people. Miscommunication because of conflicting biological practices can lead to serious problems. According to Gurian and Annis, the impact of poor communication can harm a whole business’ culture system. “Not only does an individual woman or man leave the company (after the company invested millions in the person), but the company’s culture becomes known for gender discomfort.” From there a negative reputation can build, hurting your company’s chances for growth. All this can be prevented if we look more closely at the simplest level of communication.
Companies are beginning to follow scientists in looking at the influence of gender on the science of the brain, the actual biological processes that gender can determine. According to the article, “…use of this ‘gender science’ by managers has become possible because now we can look into the brains of women and men to create tools for understanding one another… After training its managers in brain-based gender differences, for instance, Deloitte & Touche saw such an immediate rise in workplace comfort, especially among women managers, that the company estimates it saved $250 million dollars in lost talent.”
Scientists are beginning to find that environment doesn’t define all gender characteristics. Gender determines actual variations in brain structure; so far they’ve found “…over 100 structural differences between men’s and women’s brains.” Some of the key differences between men’s and women’s brain structures, as listed in the article:
- Women’s brains tend to have 15 – 20 percent more blood flow at any given moment than men’s brains.
- In women’s brains, language tends to occur in both the left and right hemisphere; in men’s brains, language tends to occur only in the left. When reading, writing and speaking are all factored in, women tend to use more words than men in a day.
- In women’s brains, there are more active sensorial and emotive centers, and better linkage of these centers to language centers; men’s senses don’t generally work as well as women’s, men don’t process as much emotion, and men don’t tend to link as much complex emotion or sensorial detail to words.
- In men’s brain, the cerebellum tends to be larger than in the female brain. The cerebellum is an action and physical movement center in the brain; thus, men tend to communicate more nonverbally, with more emphasis on movement and physicality than women’s emphasis on words.
- Men’s brain enter a ‘rest state,’ a zone out state, more easily than women’s—this happens many times per day naturally for men (comparatively, women’s brains do not shut off in this way except in sleep); men’s brains also enter a rest state when quantities of words become overwhelming during communication.
- Men’s brains circulate more testosterone than women’s, as compared to women’s greater neural emphasis on oxytocin. Testosterone is a competition/aggression chemical. Oxytocin is a bonding chemical. Quite often during a communication, a man will try to compete while a woman tries to bond.
What does all this mean? The authors show examples of how these differences manifest in everyday behavior. A woman in a conversation uses more words and shows more interest in details, where a man keeps his remarks and discussion short and precise. Our manner of resolving conflict conflicts as well, though this is probably no surprise. For men, testosterone and adrenaline kick in during an argument or disagreement and they grow louder and more aggressive. The fight instinct begins to grow. The norm for a woman is that she “…may become quieter and may try to find ways to keep equilibrium and relationships intact, rather than edgy with competition.” As their adrenaline levels increase, their oxytocin levels increase; this is the chemical that’s usually associated with hugging and physical closeness, the chemical that leads to bonding. In other words, a woman’s instinct is more often to reach out to others, compromise, and bond with them, especially in times of conflict. It seems almost counterintuitive, but think about it, I’m sure you’ve seen it happen.
The idea behind studying these differences is to promote better communication. Men and women interact differently, and it can cause conflict as they misinterpret unintentional signals from each other. They conduct meetings and react to each other in ways that can further conflict. But they can be taught how to overcome their instincts and can start to understand where each other is coming from. With knowledge, the sexes can learn to cooperate and ultimately be more productive. According to the article:
Once managers learn about brain differences, they look at management and supervision, meetings and alliances, work life and even home life differently. As they interact with the other gender, women (or men) who use a lot of words begin to watch carefully for the male ‘eyes glazing over’ look. Men come to notice how women are trying to help an interaction with their oxytocin-based and word-based relational approach. They also curtail interruption and target their competitiveness to individuals who seem game to relate that way. They don’t impose their aggression on people, both women and men, who are withdrawing from the corporate culture because the aggression level is unnecessarily high.
Gender-caused conflicts can lead to a tense and uncomfortable work environment. Conflict of any kind, really, can lead to a slowdown of productivity. That’s why it’s important to identify causes of problems and try to eliminate them. If gender-caused brain chemicals and processes are an issue we can work around and resolve, then we’re headed toward a much more productive, efficient, and successful working world.
Todd Palmer, President, Diversified Industrial Staffing
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| Contact Information | If you are interested in obtaining additional information about these articles or the services offered by Credential Check Corporation, please contact one of the following individuals:
Thank you! We'll see you next month!
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