As ride sharing services like those provided by companies like Uber experience tremendous growth across the country it is time to perform thorough background screening on the part-time drivers. Just as employment screening of full-time employees helps mitigate risk and helps determine if a potential employee is qualified for a position the same kind of background screening should be performed on part-time ride sharing drivers as well.
If a worker isn’t designated as a full-time employee that doesn’t mean they don’t pose the same risks as a full-time employee. These ride sharing drivers are entrusted with the lives of those they drive around and the safety of these passengers should be paramount. Screening out potential ride sharing drivers that could pose a significant risk due to past behaviors is the best course of action for the overall safety of ride sharing customers. Background screening activities including criminal background checks will help filter out certain kinds of individuals with malfeasant pasts including any past traffic violations that show a tendency of unsafe driving behaviors. These part time workers should be vetted the same as full-time employees prior to letting them drive around customers.
Every day millions of people use mobile phones to hail a ride. Whether at the airport or around town ride sharing (or ride-hail) has had explosive growth over the past decade. Uber, Lyft and other related companies dominate the short drive hire industry, an industry once dominated by taxi cabs. The millions of people that use these services have grown to trust them for their safety.
And yet controversy lingers over the hiring of ride-hail/ride-share drivers. Seemingly on a daily basis the news on the internet is filled with stories about attacks from drivers from ride-share companies.
A recent report by CNN suggests that incidents with Uber drivers have forced the company to create a Special Investigations Unit (SIU).
From CNN.com (Jan 22, 19):
According to CNN, the memo stated that the SIU team “manages nearly 1,200 cases per week,” and noted, “Although some reports shared with the SIU are frivolous and later found to have no merit or constitute fraud, we were told that most of the cases reported have some basis of substantiation.”
In the case of violence toward women, the number of instances that have already come to light—even compared to the total number of rides, which Uber estimates at 2 billion over the past two years—is cause enough for alarm. forbes.com/sites/janetwburns/2019/01/22/report-uber-investigators-faced-trauma-and-huge-caseloads-according-to-memo/#66b70cb427bd
Working with a pre-employment background screening agency will greatly assist any company in mitigating risk and assisting in keeping people safe.
A recent report out of Massachusetts suggests a significant number of applicants to ride-hail companies failed background screening. This is a notable step forward for an industry under continuous pressure. Ride-share companies are beginning to understand the importance of protecting drivers and passengers alike. eagletribune.com/news/tens-of-thousands-of-ride-hail-drivers-fail-screening/article_3a123476-98ee-5635-8222-cd2188bdec5d.html
However, reports continue to appear on-line about malfeasant acts performed by ride-share drivers.
In Madison, Wisconsin a ride-share driver has been accused of sexual assault upon a passenger in her home. channel3000.com/news/lyft-calls-sexual-assault-allegations-against-madison-driver-deeply-disturbing-/1001602530
The examples of ride-sharing company’s challenges is an excellent reminder for other companies, large and small. Pre-employment background screening should be an absolute must and as thorough as possible. Working with a well-qualified employment screening agency remains a best practice. These employment screening companies can assist businesses large and small in remaining fully compliant with existing law as well as being prepared for potential new law.
Thorough background screening of many drivers would be a considerable challenge and yet remains an essential task. The very essence of background screening is risk mitigation. Public safety should be a primary concern for ride-sharing companies, subsequently risk mitigation would be a critical outcome, and background screening would be an integral element within that risk mitigation program.
With so many ride sharing drivers out there and continued growth in this sector now is the time to mandate professional background screening on all drivers before they are allowed to cart around passengers. The safety of the customers must be paramount for these ride sharing companies in order to help prevent the likelihood of casualties and abuse.
To read more about why thorough background screening of ride share drivers helps protect the overall public population in the USA read recent CriminalBackgroundRecords.com press release: Thorough Background Screening of Ride Sharing Drivers Could Better Serve the Public; opines CriminalBackgroundRecords.com