Aliases And Nicknames: How Knowing People By Other Names Protects Your Business
Posted on: 15 October 2018
Many people have nicknames, or names they go by that are shorter versions of their given names. Other people have aliases because they have been in trouble before. Knowing the difference, and knowing which ones your employees go by, helps reduce company risk. Here is how your business can use name matching tools to determine if your employees are risk-free and/or if the applicants to your company might spell trouble.
Tools for You, Tools for HR
This is not your standard, "everybody gets the same software program" kind of software. Only the owners of the company and the HR department should have it, have access to it, and use it. There are different but similar tools within the software that you and the HR department can use. One such tool is to search for other people of the same name in the same city for each employee you have working for you. Another tool searches public criminal records for indications of name matches for employees. If you find something really unseemly, you can use another tool to cross-reference date of birth, home address, and/or physical description or photo ID with the matches in your company. If no matches are found for anyone, then search for aliases.
It Seems Everyone Is Legit, but Search Aliases Anyway
You and/or HR has already gone through a host of the name matching software tools. No hits is typically good news, but you should always consider aliases. Look for "alias" matches that may fit. Aliases mean that someone has tried, or succeeded, at a crime more than once. You may not want such a person working for you, especially if the crime was theft or something much more heinous. If you still cannot find anything to match up with anyone working for you or anyone that wants to work for you, then you can rest easy knowing that this software has done exactly what you needed it to do.
Ask about Nicknames
There is nothing illegal about asking if someone goes by a nickname. In fact, it is perfectly okay to ask this question, in case someone prefers to go by a shortened name or nickname, like "Bill" for "William," or "Dick" for "Richard." It may also help you perform more thorough name match searches knowing that these employees have rarely gone by their given names in the past, and are more likely to have records listing their nicknames, shortened names, or aliases.
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