Thailand ranks 21st out of 190 countries in the ease of doing business index. Hence, if you plan to incorporate your business subsidiary, it is a lucrative business destination.
If you are setting up a company in Thailand, you will need resources to help you run the company. To hire resources responsibly, you must conduct a background check on all the candidates before onboarding them. There are hundreds of cases where the candidate’s information is inaccurate. Hence, information verification is important. It is also an essential step in the employee screening process.
This Thailand employment background check guide will help you navigate the entire process-
What is employment background verification?
Background verification is the process of confirming the legitimacy of a person’s or company’s job history, commercial records, financial records, criminal records, and other actions. The digitization of various public information, including voter identification cards, driver’s licenses, PAN cards, academic certificates, police records, and court records, has made it easier to screen entities quickly.
With so much information available online, some for free and some for a cost, there is a fine line between what can be examined and what cannot. Both the employer and the employee may find it puzzling. The process of background checks in Thailand is quite comprehensive. Employee screening in Thailand is a multi-faceted process as several checks are conducted before the employee is onboarded to the company.
Benefits of background checks in Thailand
When you hire an employee in Thailand, you invest in that person for the long term. Therefore, it is essential to hire the right person. You can ensure that by conducting proper background checks. There are several benefits of conducting a background check in Thailand. Some of these benefits include:
- Background checks help you in finding the right fit for the job. Candidates tend to add false information to their resumes to get hired. However, if you conduct a background check, you can verify if the candidate has the kind of experience listed on their resume.
- The process also brings down the cost of recruitment. The entire hiring procedure is expensive, and repeating it wastes time. Background checks can help you make long-term decisions by allowing you to confirm the integrity of reported information.
- The background verification process also protects you from any legal liabilities. This is because the process involves checking criminal records.
- When you get into employee screening in Thailand, the quality of the manpower that you onboard will improve significantly.
- When you weed out the applications based on existing criminal records or other proofs against the candidate, you protect the organization from threats like fraud, violence, etc.
- Background checks on prospective hires will drastically lower your rate of unwanted turnover. The more information you have on a new hire before making a job offer, the less likely you will make a poor hiring decision.
Are background checks legal in Thailand?
Background checks are not expressly allowed or forbidden by law in Thailand. However, health checks are an essential part of the employee screening process in Thailand. Also, you must conduct relevant credit checks to get clarity on the financial stability of the candidate.
The Credit Information Business Act limits how members and service users can utilize the National Credit Bureau; job consideration is not one of them. However, suppose credit information is available (for example, from an international credit agency, which may be significant when hiring a foreign national). In that case, Thai law does not restrict an employer from reviewing it.
Employers generally verify the education credentials and other details related to previous employers to ensure that the information furnished by the candidate is accurate.
Additionally, there are some professions where testing for drugs and alcohol is frequently done. You can get in touch with the bodies that perform such tests. Some employers might also conduct informal searches on social media and the internet to be doubly sure about the candidate.
Things to know when performing a background check in Thailand
When an employee background screening in Thailand is conducted, every facet of an employee’s life is checked. This makes employee screening in Thailand relatively rigid and strict.
Listed below are some of the aspects that are included in a background check in Thailand:
Employment history
All other verifications are more challenging to obtain than contacting the candidate’s previous employer and checking information. You can quickly reach the candidate’s prior employer’s human resources department to confirm the information on his résumé.
The employee might also furnish false information about his employment, so the background check in Thailand mandates checking the employment history.
Education history
The background check in Thailand is conducted by businesses that validate the employees’ degrees and review their educational credentials from where they graduated.
Companies will need the date of the degrees to validate them, and if the employee changes their name after graduation, they will have to supply them with their last name. This procedure is advised for higher-level roles in the organization but can be followed for all candidates to ensure safety.
Criminal record
Criminal background checks are one of Thailand’s most commonly used techniques for employee background screening, but they’re also one of the most complicated and misunderstood. Serious crimes and minor crimes are the two basic types of crimes.
When screening people and hiring, you must define your organization’s values and draw the line as an employer. A person’s criminal background impacts not just the safety of a company but also job performance and qualification.
If you’re hiring a stock manager to manage inventory and funds (a profession requiring a high level of trust), check to see if the person has ever been charged with theft or fraud. You must get in touch with an organization that can help you with these criminal checks during the employee screening in Thailand.
Credit report
Banks typically require a credit report when applying for a credit card, vehicle, or home loan. Credit background checks assist in invalidating a person’s credit-to-debt ratio history.
Conduct a credit history check for employment in the banking business where fraud and embezzlement are possible. Furthermore, suppose a company rejects an applicant based on their credit report.
In that case, it must provide a specific explanation for doing so and the contact information for the credit reporting company that gave the information. In this way, if there is any misrepresentation, the applicant will be allowed to remedy it before the hiring choice is made.
Social life
Employers scan and screen social media profiles such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and others as part of social media background checks. For recruits or current employees, employers undertake social intelligence tests. Employers do social intelligence social media background checks on their personnel.
Specific social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, provide features such as professional endorsements and testimonials. Employers can look at these to appraise the candidate.
Background businesses also do a social media check on the individual to ensure that details such as accolades and performance claims are accurate. This is completed before the interview. The hiring manager will conduct an internet search of the candidate, but whether or not they can utilize the information found on the internet is controversial.
Information essential for a background check in Thailand
Several pieces of information need to be verified with the help of a background check in Thailand. Some of these details are:
- You must verify the name, age, date of birth, place of birth, sex, and names of both parents provided by the candidate.
- Identifying social behaviors and trends, relationships, staying with or alongside someone, schedule, and other facts are essential. Employers in Thailand avail a lifestyle assessment service to get such details.
- An overview of the internet and social media to see whether any harmful material has ever been reported. Employers could do a background check on an applicant using social media in Thailand. As an employer, you should look at applicants’ social media profiles, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, to observe how they act outside work.
- Verify current marital status and history, including partners’ names, dates, and locations of marriages.
- Checking the current address against the information provided is also very important for the employer.
- Checking information on the position, dates of employment, reputation, performance, and, if applicable, the reason for leaving is essential to understand the applicant’s employment history.
- Verify that the individual has genuinely studied and graduated according to the facts.
- It is crucial to verify the authenticity of the professional certifications if they are provided.
- Former superiors and co-workers are approached for references to determine past reputation and performance. Employers may look into previous work to verify job title and pay. Interviews with anyone who knew or previously knew the candidate, including instructors, acquaintances, co-workers, neighbors, and family members, can be conducted as part of a more thorough background check. This information is crucial to understanding the candidate.
- Checks for fraud, scams, and blacklists should be conducted to determine whether someone is on any local or worldwide fraud scam lists.
- You must also conduct civil and litigation checks to see if the candidate has been involved in any lawsuits (optional).
- Credit checks are performed on applicants applying for jobs requiring them to deal with financial records or large sums of money (optional).
- You can also check for a criminal record to see if the employee had committed any criminal offense in the past.
- Passport information, current in-country status, and trip history, including dates, airline details, and destination information, are all required for travel/immigration verification and should also be checked. However, it is optional for an employer to know these details.
- Asset Valuation is the process of locating and valuing any assets, including real estate, land, bank accounts, automobiles, and enterprises. This check differs from company to company.
All the information listed above comes from an employee background screening in Thailand. You must cross-verify these pieces of information before onboarding the candidate.
Process involved in background checks in Thailand
Companies begin the background check procedure by contacting the candidate’s previous employer. They’ll cross-reference the information the employees provide with data from their last employer. Then, for any illegal behavior, firms search public databases (criminal records) and are checked.
They then dig through your educational records to confirm your degrees and certificates. Finally, businesses will check the address of the employee. They may even dispatch individuals to physical sites to verify a candidate’s address. You must have a step-by-step approach to handle this:
Draft a background check policy
If you want to run an employment background check in Thailand, you must have a clear policy. The policy should adhere to the federal laws of Thailand. The policy should also mention the entire process and the point of time when these checks should be conducted.
Take candidate’s consent
A company must inform the candidate that you will conduct a pre-employment background check in Thailand. You can get the candidate’s signature and approval for conducting these checks.
Gather relevant information
Now that you have gotten the employee’s consent, you need to gather all the necessary documents that will help you in verifying the information provided by the candidate in support of the candidature.
Run the check
Once you gather all the documents and information, you can start verifying them. You can also onboard a global PEO like Multiplier, who can help you with the entire process.
Industries and situations that are most suitable for background checks in Thailand
Background checks are not expressly permitted by law. Businesses are, nevertheless, subject to additional compliance requirements in specific industries. Securities firms, for example, are mandated to avoid insider trading.
Employers frequently demand their workers to report their stock holdings and trades to detect insider trading to comply with such a requirement. Some sectors where employers will benefit from a background check include:
- Banking
- Finance
- Healthcare
- Manufacturing
How does Multiplier help with background checks?
You must conduct employment background checks to minimize risks if your company works with international teams. With background checks, you can build a reliable team. You can easily outsource the background verification process to a third-party provider like Multiplier.
Our experts have a great experience with the entire process and are also aware of the laws and regulations governing background verification in Thailand. Multiplier is a one-stop platform that can be used in more than 150 APAC nations, including Thailand, Europe, and the Americas, for establishing legally sound contracts, managing payments, taxes, insurance, and assuring compliance with local laws, and much more.
It merely requires a few clicks to sign up new employees. In reality, you can hire new foreign talent for your firm in under a day.