You are about to hire a great new staff person. They have a great resume, interviewed well, and seem to fit well with your team. Their list of references had great things to say about them. One thing your applicant probably forgot to mention to you was their felony conviction! Why take chances with your business and your businesses customers. Get everyone that works for you, employees, subcontractors and their staff background checked. It is a small cost, usually just $25 to $50 each depending upon how extensive you make it. This is a small expense to pay for piece of mind that you may want to make part of your hiring practices.
Several years ago, I owned and operated a Raleigh handyman business and a customer who had owned several area rental properties and hired me for several projects asked if she could conduct a background check on me. I had no problem with it and was happy to comply. Her reasoning was that she wanted to be sure I checked out as I was going to be dealing with not only her and her property but also her tenants and she wanted to protect everyone concerned. Her attorney also was encouraging her to do this as a way of limiting risk with the properties that she owned.
Background checking can also be a marketing tool for your company. Wouldn’t customers see it as a benefit of hiring your company over the competition if they knew each person coming into their homes working on their repair or remodeling project was background checked? Even if you are a one-man company, you might want to do a background check on your-self. Just so you can show prospective customers a third-party reference to prove you are above-board. Show off the fact that you passed a background check. If you promote that fact, you make yourself more marketable to prospective customers.