Why is my work repeatedly asking me for a background check?

April 10, 2026 — 5:01am

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As a career contractor, I have to go through background and police checks every six to 12 months, depending on the length of the assignment. As a condition of employment, each time I have to submit the same documents to (often) the same background check company.

While I understand why a new employer would want to perform background and police checks on each new starter, I find it difficult to understand why permanent staff do not have to go through the same process every couple of years even though later down the track they might have been convicted of a criminal offence.

Why do most organisations not bother? And why can’t background check companies save my documents so that I do not have to keep resubmitting them each time?

This sounds exasperating. Job applications are difficult enough currently without the re-submission and double up you’ve described.

Having said that, I asked Carol T Kulik, a Bradley Distinguished Professor in the School of Management at Adelaide........

© The Sydney Morning Herald