Employment Security Policy & Procedure

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to set out the background checks which are undertaken on employees to give the Institute a level of assurance as to their trustworthiness when they join CISI on a contract or permanent contract of employment.

Depending on the role the employee is undertaking, the CISI operates a two-tier Pre-Employment Security policy:

  • Standard Pre-Employment Checks
  • Enhanced Pre-Employment Security Checks

All employees will be subject to the standard pre-employment checks and, if the role requires it, enhanced pre-employment security checks will also be undertaken. 

Risk Management

Managers must also employ a risk management approach, ensuring that security controls are in place to reduce the risk of damage, loss, or compromise of the integrity and reputation of CISI.   The Department Director should be informed of any breaches or threats to this.

They should also ensure that employees are aware of the confidential nature of some of the information to which they may have access, and that they are required to bring to the attention of their line manager any incidents that might be considered a threat to the security and confidentiality of such information.  This includes but is not limited to personal and professional relationships with third parties, conflicts of interest and situations where undue influence could arguably be brought to bear.

Standard Pre-Employment Checks

The following standard pre-employment checks are undertaken for all staff:

  • Employment references to cover previous two roles (this may be extended if the previous two roles do not cover up to 5 years employment).
  • If this is the employee’s first or second job and / or they have been studying, volunteering, or not working (during the past 5 years) character and academic references can be provided.
  • ID check (ideally passport or ID card, as this is also required to check the person can work in the Country, or birth certificate with a further document to verify they have the right to work in the Country)
  • Verification of address(s) (e.g. original utility bill, credit card bill showing their address, not more than three months old)
  • Where relevant: membership of a professional bodies and academic qualifications
  • Completion of the Conviction Declaration Form
  • Completion of the Social Media Declaration (See Appendix 1).   This is referred to in the UK contract of employment, relevant letter in other countries, and sent to all employees (and relevant Consultants) to sign before they join CISI
  • Satisfactory Medical Report (where a third-party provider is available to provide this service, UK Only)

Enhanced Pre-Employment Checks

  • These are in addition to the above standard pre-employment checks. Employees who fall under one or more of the following three categories will be subject to an enhanced check: Employees that are granted ‘access all areas’, senior employees that must be seen as above reproach and/or employees that hold legal accountability at CISI.  Employees in these categories have the potential to affect the integrity and reputation of CISI. This group will include, but is not limited to staff in the following posts:
  • All members of the Executive Team
  • Country Heads (overseas offices)
  • HR department
  • Finance employees with unrestricted access to process payments
  • IT employees
  • Website development Manager  

In addition to the standard pre-employment checks, an enhanced pre-employment security check will also include:

  • A Credit Check: which in the  
    • UK – credit report which will include checking for County Court Judgements
    • Sri Lanka - Credit information Bureau of Sri Lanka ‘CRIB’ report
    • or where available a local Government credit report
  • Police Report:
    • UK - DBS
    • Sri Lanka - Police report (English Translation) and Gramasevaka Certificate – reference (English Translation)
    • Or local police report
  • Extended reference requirements covering more than 5 years of employment history if applicable to the role.
  • HR will conduct a search of the social media pages in addition to the Social Media Declaration.

Unsatisfactory Security Reports

Prospective employees are informed that references and security checking will be undertaken and must be satisfactory in the Institute’s opinion, or they may not be employed, or their employment may be terminated.

A commonsense approach will be taken on the receipt of the checks / report, with where necessary the Director of Finance & HR making a final decision, or Chief Executive for Senior roles.

Prospective employees are not eligible to appeal against the Institute’s decision to not employ them due to the results of the security checking.  However, they may, if they feel they have received an unfair reference from a previous employer, be able to challenge this through legal avenues with their previous employer.

Current Employees

Promotion / Moving to a new role

If an employee is offered a promotion or moved to a role which requires an enhanced security check, they must agree to all of the enhanced checks before the position can be confirmed.

Ongoing Security Management

As the pre-employment checks only provide a snapshot of an individual record at a particular time, for good practice, employees that are subject to enhanced security checks, will have these repeated every five years, including re-signing the social media declaration.  Employees are required to complete the required documents within three weeks of receiving the request.

Issues which arise when employees are asked to complete a check or with the report CISI receives will be dealt with individually with the employee.  In extreme cases this may involve the employee moving to a less sensitive role, or where redeployment is not possible leaving the Institute.