This year, PWC released its fifth South African edition of the Global Economic Crime Survey. The survey revealed that 68% of South African respondents witnessed the submission of false qualifications. This exceeds the global average of 44%, it’s nearly double the amount of the second highest type of HR fraud; false wage claims which is at 39%.
Government and state-owned companies suffer the most from human resources fraud, with several high-profile scandals. Most of these comprise of falsified qualifications. Often referred to as “educational misrepresentation”, fake qualifications pose a threat to the economy since it has a direct impact on an employee’s level of knowledge. Misrepresentation of qualifications isn’t limited to the public sector, though. However, companies are wary of reputational damage and therefore try to hide this fact from the media.
When recruiting for a position that requires an academic qualification, it’s not enough to trust that a candidate has the qualification they claim to have. Your business has to have a clear policy regarding pre-employment screening. You should screen all potential employees, regardless of the period they’ll be working for your company.
Items to investigate:
- Tertiary qualifications
- Membership of professional associations
- Employment history
- Credit records
- Criminal records
