Trusted Employees offers employment screening and background check services that help small to large businesses verify a job candidate’s information, such as education and work qualifications. Aside from its wide range of screening options, it provides access to an online platform for tracking background check orders, accessing screening results, and generating adverse action notice forms. Its basic package costs $29.95 per screening, but you can also create a custom plan with the pre-employment tests that your business needs.
In our evaluation of the best background check companies, Trusted Employees earned an overall rating of 4.33 out of 5—nabbing the second spot on that list. However, the lack of user feedback on popular review sites (such as G2 and Capterra) prevented this provider from getting a higher rating.
Trusted Employees Overview
Trusted Employees Is Best For
- Businesses requiring customizable background check packages: While the Trusted Employees pricing plans include the usual screening options (like address and Social Security number verifications), you can customize it by purchasing additional services like credit and education background checks.
- Companies needing industry-specific employment screenings: If your business belongs to an industry that needs specialty screenings (such as credit reports or license checks for doctors and accountants) or if there are positions in your company that require it, Trusted Employees offers special background check packages for various industries—from healthcare and insurance to transportation and financial services.
- HR teams that want flexible drug testing options for candidates: Trusted Employees offers various tests and has a list of partner collection sites you can access online, enabling you to schedule drug tests in a location nearest to your candidate. If you can’t find one, it has an Oral Fluid Drug Testing option, which allows you to collect samples on-site (e.g., at your company premises). You’ll even be provided the materials you need, such as collection swabs, overnight shipping bags, and chain of custody forms.
Trusted Employees Is Not Ideal For
- Businesses that need state and county background checks: While Trusted Employees offers these screening options, you have to upgrade to at least its Advanced plan to access it. You may want to consider ShareAble for Hires, as its basic package includes state and county checks. To help you gauge if its features fit your needs, check out our ShareAble for Hires review.
- Employers who require year-round background checks for employees (not just candidates): While you can place employee criminal record checks via Trusted Employees’ client portal, you might forget to do it or unintentionally miss adding a worker’s name to the list. We recommend Checkr, as it has a “Continuous Crim” feature, which you can toggle on/off for specific employees, that continuously checks your workers’ criminal records and sends real-time reports. Read our Checkr review to know more about its services.
How Trusted Employees Compares With Top Alternatives
Best For | Starter Monthly Fees | Our Reviews | |
---|---|---|---|
Companies looking for industry-specific background checks | $29.95 per check | ||
Businesses that have international applicants | $29.99 per check | ||
Businesses looking for a more affordable screening service | $25 per check | ||
Businesses looking for an instant background check | $36.47 per check | ||
Looking for something different? If you want to test whether candidates have the technical or leadership skills you’re looking for, check out our list of the best pre-employment assessment tools. For those needing an online system to manage the hiring process, our guide to the top recruiting software contains our recommended solutions.
What’s great about the Trusted Employees pricing matrix is that it offers a standard set of reasonably-priced background check plans, as well as curated screening packages for specific industries. Pricing is also transparent and new clients don’t have to pay setup fees. These factors contributed to its perfect rating for pricing.
Trusted Employees offers three options: Basic, Advanced, and Comprehensive. The main difference between these is access to country criminal, state federal court, and most wanted searches.
Basic | Advanced | Comprehensive | |
---|---|---|---|
Starter Pricing | $29.95 per screening | $49.95 per screening | $69.95 per screening |
Social Security & Known Aliases Verifications | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
10–15 Years Address History | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Multi-State Criminal Search | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Sex Offender Registry Search | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
OFAC* / Global Terrorist Watchlist Search | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Most Wanted Search | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
County Criminal Search | ✕ | Two county federal searches | 7-year all county federal searches |
State Federal Court Search | ✕ | Two state federal searches | 7-year all county federal searches |
*OFAC stands for Office of Foreign Assets Control, which enforces economic sanction programs against countries, entities, groups, and individuals. These sanctions can include blocking of assets and trade restrictions to achieve foreign policy and national security goals. |
If you need more than 50 screenings in a year, Trusted Employees can create a custom package to fit your needs. The provider also allows you to build your own screening package by purchasing additional background checks for your plan. Here are some of the options:
- Credit report: $12 per screening
- Driving records: $19.95 per screening
- Financial and health care sanctions: $9 each per screening
- Education and employment verifications: $14.95 each per screening
Note that some educational institutions, employers, counties, and motor vehicle departments may charge processing fees to access and verify records. Trusted Employees will pay for these upfront, but the actual costs will be added to your bill.
Industry-specific Packages
For organizations that need industry-specific background checks, Trusted Employees offers special packages for nonprofits, franchise businesses, and those in the education, finance, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, retail, transportation, and technology sectors. Pricing details for these plans can be found on its website (look for the “Industries” option located at the topmost part of the page), or you can check out some of the packages below.
We gave this provider perfect marks for employment screening features because you get a wide range of Trusted Employees services—from identity checks to credit record searches and education verifications. The provider can even handle I-9 verifications to help you check whether candidates are authorized to work in the country.
Here are some of its background check services:
Background Check Options | Services Included |
---|---|
Identity and address check | Checks for the candidate’s known aliases, address history, and valid Social Security number |
Multi-state criminal record search | Database search of publicly available criminal information from all states (with potential records verified at the court of origin) |
County and state federal criminal records search | Criminal records checks from county courts and state repositories |
Most wanted search | Conducts first and last name matches against wanted fugitives on the FBI, CIA, and DEA’s lists |
Employment verification | Checks for the candidate’s hiring dates, positions held, working hours, and eligibility for rehire from current and/or previous employers |
Professional license verification | Verifies the candidate’s professional license or certificate from the state or national board responsible for licensing or certifying professionals |
Commercial driver’s license verification | Verifies whether a commercial driver’s license is valid and checks for violations committed while the candidate was driving a commercial vehicle |
Motor vehicle record search | Verifies whether a driver’s license is valid and checks the candidate’s complete personal driving history for any violations |
Reference verification | Contacts the candidate’s provided references to verify capabilities (also checks for falsified references) |
Drug testing | Offers 5-, 7-, 9-, and 10-panel drug tests, including alcohol testing and DOT drug testing |
For professional reference checks, Trusted Employees reviews the feedback provided by the candidate’s references to filter out deceptive or potentially scripted information. The provider also has a standard set of questions to help you get insights into the candidate’s character. You can even give them your own question list or request Trusted Employees to develop a custom reference check that fits your needs.
Apart from its robust employment screening options, Trusted Employees offers easy-to-use online background tools and generally fast turnaround times for getting reports. Let’s take a look at some of these functionalities.
The turnaround time for getting screening reports varies depending on the type of background check selected. Some reports can be accessed online in as fast as 60 seconds; while others, on average, can take one to three business days.
Online client and applicant portals are available for employers and their candidates. Employers can use Trusted Employees’s online platform to request and track background checks. It can even add your company logo if you want a co-branded site. On the other hand, the applicant portal lets candidates view their background check results online.
To jumpstart the employment screening process, you only need to input your candidate’s name and email address into its system. Trusted Employees will automatically send an email to the applicant with a secure link to its ApplyNow solution. This tool contains a series of data entry pages where candidates can enter relevant information, such as Social Security number and employment history. It will even require candidates to fill out and sign the consent form online. Note, however, that this feature costs extra ($2 per candidate).
Trusted Employees gained perfect marks in this criterion because it runs FCRA-compliant background checks and ensures that its screening processes follow federal, state, and local regulations. It also offers the following solutions:
- Pre-adverse and adverse action notices: Protocols are in place to ensure compliance with adverse actions and notifications. Trusted Employees even offers customizable pre-adverse and adverse action letters—although, it also has standard templates you can readily use.
- Applicant dispute tools: Candidates who feel that their background check reports contain inaccurate information can file a dispute through Trusted Employees’s secure applicant portal. Applicants can also submit a dispute form via fax, email, or regular mail.
Reporting is another criterion where Trusted Employees shines. It offers streamlined reporting and analytics, making it easy for you to access and organize your candidates’ background check data.
Reports are FCRA-compliant, with various options for viewing applicant information, package comparisons, and average and total employment screening costs. You even get advanced risk assessments to help you understand whether an applicant is a good fit for your company or open position based on thresholds you set and the candidate’s employment screening information.
- User-friendly interface
- Mobile-responsive platform
- Live phone support
- Self-service portals for clients and applicants
- Online screening reports
- FAQs and learning resources
- Integration options with API tools
Trusted Employees only scored 3.88 out of 5 in this criterion because it lacks live chat support and bulk background check ordering capabilities. However, its platform is simple to learn and use, with a mobile-friendly interface that seamlessly adjusts to the small screens of tablets and smartphones.
New clients can easily set up their Trusted Employees account by completing an online form and selecting the package they want. Ordering background checks is also done online, but if you need help, you contact its support team via phone or by submitting a contact form through its chatbot or website. If you’re the type who enjoys browsing through how-to guides, Trusted Employees has an FAQ section and learning resources that cover various topics—from hiring tips to background check-related compliances and laws.
Software Integrations
Having easy access to background checks via your HR or applicant tracking system (ATS) helps to simplify the hiring process. Trusted Employees connects seamlessly with the recruiting software, Workable, and works with its clients if they want to integrate its platform with the ATS they use.
There are API tools available, allowing you to create custom integrations if you need to. However, while the provider has a team that can walk you through the process, you need to have an in-house IT staff who can manage the custom integration for your organization.
The provider scored the lowest in this criterion because there are zero Trusted Employees reviews on popular review sites like G2 and Capterra. As of this writing, the only client testimonials we found are those posted on its website. All of those Trusted Employees reviews are positive, with users raving over the excellent services that it provides. They also appreciate the support team’s responsiveness and the quick turnaround times for releasing reports.
How We Evaluated Trusted Employees
For this Trusted Employees reviews article, we followed the same methodology we used in evaluating the best background check companies for small businesses. We looked at employment screening features, including compliance tools and reporting functionalities. We also considered pricing, ease of use, customer support options, and feedback that actual users posted on popular third-party review websites.
Click through the tabs below for our full evaluation criteria:
15% of Overall Score
We looked at pricing and gave higher points for providers with plans starting at less than $30 per search and those with transparent pricing. Providers with no setup or membership fees also score higher in our evaluation.
25% of Overall Score
In our evaluation, we looked at providers with fast turnaround times, robust employee screening options, and niche background check services (such as motor vehicle records, drug screening, credit checks, and licensure checks). Extra points were also given to providers with communication tools for both applicants and employers.
20% of Overall Score
FCRA compliance means a provider must perform background checks that are transparent, accurate, and fair to applicants. This means getting the applicants’ consent before the screening tests, allowing candidates to dispute inaccuracies in reports, and providing tools for handling pre-adverse and adverse action notices.
15% of Overall Score
For this criterion, we gave points to providers that allow easy tracking of a background check status for both applicants and employers. To get a perfect score in this criterion, a platform should be easy to use and mobile-friendly, allow integration with HR software, offer bulk ordering tools, and have live support via chat and phone.
10% of Overall Score
We gave higher points for companies that have more than 100 user reviews, without complaints of report inaccuracies, and more than 4.5 out of 5 scores on review sites (like G2 and Capterra).
15% of Overall Score
In our evaluation, we gave points to providers that offer FCRA-compliant reports and allow both employers and candidates to access their background check reports online.
Bottom Line
The quest to find qualified candidates for your open positions typically includes an applicant screening process that covers several tasks, such as reviewing resumes and conducting interviews. Before you can hire employees, it’s important to run background checks in order to verify applicant information like their educational background, qualifications, and employment history. These checks can help you spot red flags (such as criminal records) that may affect your hiring decision.
With Trusted Employees, you get a robust selection of employment screening options to fit your basic to specialized background check needs. It can handle the requirements of nearly all industries, has built-in FCRA compliances, and even offers a secure online platform for ordering, tracking, and viewing background check reports.
Sign up for a Trusted Employees account today and see how its services can help streamline your pre-employment screening processes.