New Hire Admits to Hiding Education Details: How Should Employers Respond?

If an employee fails to submit the certificates during the joining and later declares that he/she has not completed the graduation, how should an employer react to it? After the confrontation, the employee admits that out of fear of losing the job, he had kept the facts hidden.

Dear Colleague,

This is commonly happening in the industry where, unless the organization has a robust system of document verification processes, it cannot be prevented. The organization has to check critical factors through reference checks, verification of certificates on day one, etc., which may be useful. Even if something is missed out initially, a sound background verification process will reveal it in the report.

Challenges in Document Verification

These types of challenges have two issues:

1. If the qualification in question is relied upon for the role and position, and the selection decision was based on it, and it is crucial for job performance, then it should be taken seriously.

2. Ethically, if talented individuals hide basic details, what level of integrity can we expect from them?

In such cases, the industry typically advises such individuals to resign voluntarily and leave the organization. This is appropriate as we cannot compromise the trust system. If someone refuses to leave, document the lapse, and the organization may proceed to terminate on the grounds of "false information provided in the selection process and failure to submit the graduation certificate."

Addressing Fake Certificates

Similar cases occur where employees submit fake certificates or forged documents, which need to be uncovered through the background verification process. This process should be meticulous to ensure the right talents are in the organization.

The individuals involved may receive counseling to prevent such instances from reoccurring. A smooth exit process is the correct approach.

In agreement with what Dr. Sivakumar has said, I would like to make a suggestion. It may be helpful to request color-scanned copies of all the documents from any candidate who is selected to join your organization. This additional step before the candidate officially joins could help in avoiding such hiring issues.

Thank you for your valuable inputs. How should we proceed with candidates who are not qualified but possess practical knowledge related to the job and are also honest about their own facts?