Will a lie detector test be effective during pre-employment checks?
Every day, we hear news about cyber-crimes and data leaks, which have created a fuss in the corporate sector. Most of the times, this leak is not due to some one’s mistake but is done intentionally with the sole purpose of destroying the credibility of the company. Like many other things that can be stopped from happening, this could be stopped too. If the employer asks the employee to take a lie detecting test before he is hired, he can know the real intentions of the employee for the company. If the person who is about to be hired wants to damage the company in any way, his intentions will be detected through the polygraph test and the damages which will be suffered by the company due to the hiring of such employee can be avoided.
Many people tend to lie about their qualifications and achievements in order to secure a job at an esteemed organization. They also might produce some false paper trail to back their claim about their achievements. Hiring of such frauds can be avoided using the pre-employment lie detector test. The person’s lies will be detected during the test and thus his false claims could be caught then and there itself. Hence it is a very effective way to determine the employee’s credibility and trustworthiness. What the lie detector machine does is that it monitors various changes in the body while answering a question which in turns determines if the person is lying or not. In a lie detector machine, around five or six sensors are attached to various parts of the body which monitors every minute change in the body. These sensors usually monitor the test taker’s pulses, his breathing rate, his blood pressure, his perspiration, his skin conductivity, etc. The changes among any of these are monitored very closely and even a very minute change is recorded and displayed on the graph which is attached to the sensor. The test taker is asked a series of basic questions in the beginning to determine his comfort level and once it is established on the graph, the real questions are asked. If the person lies about these questions, there is a spike in his heart beats and breathing rate and this can observed directly on the graph. Thus it can be determined very easily if the person taking the test is lying about it or not.
There are many data storage facilities of companies where data leak can cause huge damages. In such a case, the company simply cannot afford any sort of data leak at all. Also the data storage facility might have some confidential information of the company, the leakage of which might compromise the very existence of the company. In such a case, all the employees who have access to such data are required to be trustworthy because in today’s world, the other competitive companies might offer a lot of money for such data. So to determine the credibility of the employees, it is better to conduct a lie detection test which would enlighten the employer about the employee’s hidden agenda if any. Although an argument can be made that this might result in interference of the personal life of the employees it is necessary in today’s date as data leak is the worst problem that every employer is facing at almost every level.
Other than the private sector, there is more threat of data leak in the public sector. The government contains information of every individual in its database and if such information is leaked, it can result in a lot of chaos. Also, using such information of individuals, the crime rate would increase tremendously as the criminals will start concealing their basic information. Other than these, a bigger threat persists when it comes to defense data leak. A data leak from such a powerful place might compromise the security of the entire country and all its citizens. The enemy nation can obtain precise information about the military capability and troop deployment of the country and thus can orchestrate an attack accordingly. Thus it is very important that people with such level of clearance undergo lie detection test in order to ensure the security of the nation.