Tysons Security Company Aims to Intercept Risky Employee Behavior

A Tysons-based company aims to keep companies and government agencies secure by curtailing and catching employees’ risky behavior.

ClearForce offers a customizable employee risk management platform for private and public sector organizations. Started in 2015, the company is located at 8000 Towers Crescent Drive, Suite 1525.

CEO Tom Miller told Tysons Reporter that the company has an ideal headquarters because of “the level of talent and expertise with not only national security but also with analytics” in the Tysons area.

“This may be the perfect location to start a company that is focused on security,” he said.

While Miller declined to say how many clients ClearForce has, he said “some” are located in the Tysons area.

The platform continually monitors employees’ activities inside and outside of their organizations. Information can come from peer reports, arrest records and complaints, Miller said.

On the front end, the portable platform helps organizations discover risky behavior — from a physical risk like working with kids or an information access risk — by providing real-time alerts for high-risk behavior, Miller said.

Miller pointed to two main “red flags” for risky behavior that ClearForce has seen over and over again — patterns of low-level criminal activity and disengagement.

“Everybody hires individuals they trust, but over time, things happen,” Miller said, adding that “life events” can lead employees to feel disengaged at work.

How does ClearForce flag disengagement? Miller said that peer complaints, reports about bullying and harassment, complaints from outside of the organization, whistleblower reports and reports of criminal activity tied to an individual can indicate an issue.

While some places have self-reporting policies, Miller said that “doesn’t happen often, especially when it puts the job at risk.”

Usually, each organization will assign people from the legal, security and human resources divisions to have access to the information ClearForce collects about the employees. Meanwhile, employees who use the platform can access a portal where they can submit self-reports and peer reports.

“It’s not designed to be a punitive system,” he said, stressing that the information in the platform can encourage preemptive actions, like counseling and wellness programs. “It’s not designed to replaced HR.”

The platform works slightly differently for each organization. It is tailored to match organizations’ policies and level of scrutiny needed for different employees, contractors, volunteers — anyone associated with each place.

For example, Miller said that driving under the influence charges may be more important for ClearForce to monitor for employees who drive than ones who don’t.

Companies only doing background checks before hiring employees or rechecking could miss negative information about employees, Miller said.

“Static point-in-time behavioral checks are outdated today,” Miller said, adding that most organizations do a pre-hire check and then an annual check.

“The difference between rechecking and continually evaluating is you’re exposing yourself to gaps,” he said.

The subscription fee for the platform depends on the number of the employees in the system from each organization interested in using it.

“Every employee wants to work in a safe and secure workplace,” Miller said.

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