Wal-Mart to run background checks on applicants
Screening programme to ensure ’employee integrity’
Wal-mart is to run background checks on all applicants for jobs, initially in its US stores.
The world’s biggest retailer said it is taking ‘a leadership role within the retail industry’ with the move, which will aim to identify applicants with criminal records as well as those who may have lied on application forms for other reasons.
The retailer’s Sam’s Club division in the US will also operate the background check process, with Wal-Mart planning to expand the applicant background programme to other divisions in the near future. UK supermarket chain Asda is part of Wal-Mart’s international division.
The US roll-out of the scheme starts next month, and follows a year of pilot programmes around the US. The checks will start in the Midwest and roll out nationally over several months.
[img r]samsclub.jpg[/img]Working within local laws, the background checks will review applicants’ backgrounds for various criminal offences. Wal-Mart said applicants will not be considered for any position if they are found to have lied in their applications.
Sue Oliver, senior vice president, people, for Wal-Mart’s Stores Division said: “Across the country, every day, we have hundreds of thousands of trustworthy women and men serving our customers.
“We want to preserve the outstanding reputation these individuals have worked hard to build for themselves. By adding another level of security to our hiring practices, our associates can be assured that we are strengthening our efforts to try to intercept anyone who might otherwise damage that integrity.
“We also believe this will add yet another level of comfort for our customers, many of whom already consider their local Wal-Mart associates as kind of an extended family.
“We operate in all 50 states so this is a relatively complex issue. A process that meets the requirements in one geographical area may actually violate a rule in another. We have worked hard to create a process that, abiding by the regulations of their particular community, fairly screens all applicants.”
