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The Employee Onboarding & Background Verification Reaction- Technology is the catalyst!

Recruiting and retaining talent is a major challenge in the competitive world of today for HR professionals. A study conducted by Kronos and Future Workplace found 87% of global employers were concerned about retaining talent at the workplace. The scenario is not much different in India where attrition rates in IT, healthcare and other sectors have been close to 25%.

 

Onboarding experience can improve retention

A study shows that employees who had a great onboarding experience were 69% more likely to stay in the company for three years. Companies are increasingly investing in providing a great onboarding experience to increase employee engagement and talent retention.

 

How HR Technology helps speed up onboarding

Data shows that 20% of turnover occurs within just 45 days of recruitment. It makes sense to use HR technology to speed up and streamline onboarding to improve employee engagement and retention rates while optimizing the cost of recruitment. The sooner the employee is onboarded, more the productivity. Background Verification is an imperative, time consuming process in the employee onboarding process. However, technology is changing this paradigm. At AuthBridge, we are geared up to provide instant background verification with the use of cutting-edge technology in the following ways:

 

Aadhar-based eKYC

Background verification of employees is necessary to create a safe working environment as well as to avoid making wrong hires.  Employee Background Verification is one of the crucial elements in the onboarding process that can be streamlined with the use of technology. Earlier background verification processes necessitated lots of paperwork that needed signatures of Gazetted officers. Being a government-approved verification method, eKYC only needs an Aadhaar number. The identity, address proof and other details of the employee can be instantly verified in real time with Aadhaar-based eKYC.

 

Identity Verifications now done instantly using Aadhaar

API integration and tech-enabled platforms make it possible to complete identity checks and receive reports in quick time. AuthBridge is a registered Authenticated User Agency with UIDAI for Aadhaar-based background verification.

 

Employment verification is now a matter of minutes with WorkAttest™

AuthBridge’s WorkAttest™ is a web-based, automated, and secured platform. The key advantage of the platform is that you can gain insights into employees who leave the company. It also enables you to respond to other background screening agencies’ ex-employee verification requests, enhancing your HR productivity and TAT for responding to incoming requests.

 

Address verification can now be done using GPS-enabled tech

The physical address is of immediate concern to the employer in case of a crisis at the workplace. Verifying the physical address is now easy with cutting-edge GPS-enabled technology and mobile devices equipped with state-of-the-art applications.

 

Criminal verification is again done instantly using APIs

While conducting background verification, checking if there are any criminal records of the employee is critical. This prevents legal liabilities arising out of wrong hires. Using APIs, machine learning, and advanced Algorithms, it is now possible to check for criminal records in a matter of minutes! With such automation, background verification has become seamless and quick. But what about other stages in the employee onboarding experience?

 

Here are a Few Tips for providing a great onboarding experience

Onboarding begins before recruiting
Create as much awareness about the brand and the culture when the recruitment process begins on the website, emailers, or in the form of an information kit.

 

Prepare in advance

Utilize the time between recruitment and the first reporting day of the employee to carry out background verification, checks on identity, criminal records, and so on. Consult a professional agency to handle background verification to speed up the process. Be ready with all the details before the joining date of the employee.

 

Welcome the employee

Introduce to the teams and keep the necessary resources including login passwords or user ids, space and the official email id ready.

 

Structure the program

Avoid overloading the employee with too much information and structure the onboarding program.

 

Assign a coach or a mentor

The new employee feels more comfortable with an experienced mentor at the workplace. Next time you think onboarding, think about technology and think about employee experience!

By admin, ago

7 Critical Points to Ponder Upon of Background Screening

Financial frauds grabbed headlines recently across India with the losses suffered by public sector banks reportedly going up to Rs. 2500 crores. The Reserve Bank of India released data that showed employees were involved in all of these financial scams.

Employees, both former and current, are the major fraud perpetrators in the Indian context according to a Kroll survey. Frauds range from bribery, corruption, theft of assets or stock, cybersecurity risks including phishing attacks and virus infusion. Key culprits include all levels of employees such as mid-level managers, juniors, ex-employees and contract employees. Thefts at workplace cost the U.S. small businesses a whopping $50 billion every year according to some studies. Leading background verification provider AuthBridge’s 2017 survey revealed that employees most commonly misrepresent facts on their resume.  Extensive background screening is the only way to prevent wrong hires and hire people with the right reputation. While background screening is a critical aspect of recruitment at all levels, companies need to follow best practices in conducting employee verification.

 

The critical seven factors in background screening

Here are the seven critical aspects to consider in background screening:

1.Formulate a background screening policy:

Every company should have a clearly formulated policy in terms of background screening. This should be aligned with the company’s strategic objectives and vision. Having a policy for screening will ensure best practices are carried out in an objective way across all levels. The other benefit of having a clear policy is that it helps in making the best decisions in hiring. The policy should include details of scope, objectives of screening, modes of background checks and so on.

2.Obtain the consent of the candidate:

In many countries, it is mandatory to obtain the employee’s consent for background screening. Not doing so may attract legal action. In India, background screening has to be compliant with the Indian Contract Act, the Indian Penal Code and IT acts.

3. Understand different types of background verification:

The policy document should also include the different modes of background verification that will be used. These include reference checks, criminal record checks, substance abuse testing, address and education verification, ID verification, credit reports and so on.

4. Consult a professional background screening provider:

Entrusting the background verification process to a qualified and competent service provider can help eliminate errors and delays while ensuring accurate results. Professional background verification providers using high-tech API integrated solutions that align with the HR platforms can deliver fast and real-time results.

5. Formulate strategies to avoid bias in hiring:

In many countries, giving a fair chance at employability is mandatory. Stringent laws also exist in terms of discrimination based on religion, ethnicity, gender, age or economic background. To ensure fair hiring, background screening should be initiated post the hiring process. The data obtained from the checks cannot be used to discriminate against the employee.

6. Dealing with negative findings in criminal checks:

Many times, criminal record checks or credit reports may reveal negative findings. It is important for the HR to have the policy to handle negative findings. These can include further investigation, interviewing the candidate and giving him or her a chance at defending the findings. False positives, a negative finding in an otherwise good credit record and a lawsuit without conviction are some instances that need not result in negative hiring decisions.

7. Storing and disposing of background screening information:

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission define processes for information storage and disposal. The new European data safety rules impose strict rules on handling individual data. The background screening policy should define how long the information will be stored and the methods of disposing at the end of this term.

By admin, ago

Over 17 million people are impacted by identity theft every year.

In a world where instances of identity theft are increasing day by day, identity verification is one of the most reliable ways to build trust between any two parties. In simple terms, Identity Verification means a process that can prove or verify that someone does exist.

Fact is, in today’s world, it is no longer safe to blindly trust someone’s words. According to a survey conducted by Forbes, over 17 million people are impacted by identity theft every single year, especially consumers who are more than 50 years old are more vulnerable to such crimes. Even in India, there have been many instances of frauds conducted using Aadhaar. Just earlier this year, there were five cases of Aadhaar-related frauds where money worth lakhs was fraudulently taken out from customers’ accounts in two public sector banks.

Moreover, Andhra Bank has had four similar cases where a whopping amount of Rs. 4, 20,098 was taken out from certain customers’ bank accounts without their knowledge using their Aadhaar details. In fact, since 2015, the Indian banking department has received over twenty complaints regarding Aadhaar-related frauds. With so many instances of identity thefts, the only reasonable measure to build trust is to adopt identity checks.

 

Identity verification – A long-term solution

In India, identity verification is slowly, but surely becoming integrated in the way our economy runs. It is safe to say that in a few years, they will be fully integrated into the way we live our very lives. Today, we need to verify our identity by providing our national IDs before we apply for jobs; we need to complete our KYC in order to use every day apps like mobile wallets. Requirements like these show the pressing need for identity verification in the world today.

The rising popularity of national identity verification also means that biometrics too are gradually becoming the norm in identity checks. Soon, it is a possibility that elements like retina scan and other neurological processes may become the normal parameters for identity verification. They provide a more secure and solid fence when it comes to identity thefts.

However, your biometrics are not readily available to others, unlike your personal details. Given their security, reliability as well as scalability (they are already in use to a certain extent), they appear to lead a hopeful and more secure future for identity verification. After all, it is next to impossible for someone to steal your fingerprints, iris and retina patterns, hand geometry, voice waves and so on.

 

APIs – The basis of identity verification

Today, identity checks are done based on the government’s database, facilitated by the use of advanced APIs (application programming interface), as well as complex and intelligent search algorithms. API, which stands for Application Programming Interface, is a software intermediary which enables two different applications to interact and communicate with each other. It is the main technology behind all kinds of national identity verification today.

Here’s how it works.

When a background screening company conducts an identity search, it is basically sending out a request to the government’s database for access so that whatever is needed like identity, age, address and more can be verified.  API is the middleman that sends this request for access and sends back the response, that is, the verification result to the company. This process aids in conducting instant identity verification.

Today, API is the building block of national ID checks, enabling verification of personal details and information about an individual. But with the rise in biometrics, this may not be the norm of identity verification very soon.

By admin, ago

Background check and Other Factors in Internal and External Recruiting

Recruiting candidates to fill job vacancies is an ongoing process in any organisation. Whether an employee has resigned or you are expanding and new positions have opened up, you will be in need of someone to take the job. There are two main methods of filling a job position- internal recruiting and external recruiting. Both of these methods come with their advantages and disadvantages but deciding between the two has a lot to do with your organisation and the position that needs to be filled.

 

The advantages and disadvantages of internal recruiting

One of the most important things required when hiring an employee is the background check. The background screening is essential to know for sure that the candidate is in fact who he or she claims to be. When hiring an employee internally to fill a different position, there is a good chance that you have already done the background verification at the time of joining. A big advantage of internal recruiting is that you do not have to conduct a second background verification on the candidate and this will save you time and money. There are several other advantages of hiring internally as well. Existing employees already know how things work in your company and adjust faster to the new role, contributing to less downtime. You also have the advantage of already knowing your employee strengths and weaknesses and have a good idea how they will perform in the new position. Internal recruiting, however, is not without its drawbacks. While the process is cheaper and quicker, you might be compromising by not getting a fresh new perspective on the job. There is also the possibility of some employee being unhappy about having a colleague promoted over them which could cause some tension. And finally, you could end up creating a new vacancy in the position that your promoted employee formally occupied.

 

The advantages and disadvantages of external recruiting

External recruiting should be considered when none of your existing employees qualifies for the new position or you could benefit vastly from hiring a new candidate. What is important to remember when you are hiring externally is that a thorough background screening is required. A background verification check of a new employee could be time-consuming but will work to your advantage in the long run. Doing a pre-employment screening, identity verification and police verification could save you from hiring someone with a sketchy past that could jeopardise your company. Making sure a candidate is being honest about their past is imperative in saving you and your company a lot of problems later on. The extra time and effort required for external recruiting will pay off when you find the perfect candidate for the job. An external hire will not only bring along new ideas but could also be the most qualified and experienced person for the job. External hiring takes longer and costs more but provides you with a larger pool from which to choose the right employee.

 

Summary

Both internal and external recruiting have their pros and cons. Which method you chose to follow will depend on the vacant position and what you are looking for in a candidate. Internal recruiting is quicker and you can often do away with the background verification because you have already screened the employee once. External recruiting is a longer and more expensive process but a thorough background screening of potential candidates will work well to your advantage. To understand the background verification process in detail, write to us at communication@authbridge.com or call us on +91-850-680-4541

By admin, ago

Spot Fake Companies with Vendor Due Diligence

As a business owner, you will, at some point or another, require to partner with or outsource jobs to other companies. When scouting for a company to work with, due diligence is required to ensure you choose the right business partner. There is a lot at stake when you choose to take on a business partner; you could risk quality, time, money, and your reputation if you select the wrong partner. Unfortunately, there exist a lot of fake companies which provide substandardly or even no service, and associating with one of them could set you up for failure.

 

How does vendor due diligence help?

Let’s say, for example, your company sells exclusively cut glassware. You have an e-commerce website via which you sell your product and the items need to be couriered to your customers. You decide to hire a local courier company without doing thorough due diligence, but unfortunately, they provide substandard services. Soon you have customers complaining that their purchases are damaged and they want a refund or a replacement. An experience like this does not only ruin the reputation of your company causing you to lose customers but could put you in financial loss.

Conducting Vendor due diligence would have given you a better insight into the kind of services they provide and could have saved you all the setbacks you suffered. The same is true when entering a business partnership with another company.

Conducting business partner due diligence will let you know exactly how the business operates and whether or not they are a good fit for you. Vendor due diligence and business partner due diligence will also keep you informed of aspects such as lawsuits or past losses faced by a company. If a company is fake or just a front for money laundering or other illegal processes, a due diligent check will identify the problem before you make any commitments.

 

The best way to conduct due diligence checks

Background verification and screening is a specialised process that can be expensive and time-consuming. It is no surprise that a lot of companies skip this step or do only a partial screening. The consequences of not performing vendor or business partner due diligence could, however, be disastrous. Now, the fact is, all the companies do not have the time and resources to do a thorough screening on their own, which is why outsourcing the job to a company that specialises in this area is a good idea. AuthBridge is a professional background screening agency that takes the effort of the screening process off your shoulders. Our company uses specially developed algorithms to pull up all available information about a vendor or company from the Internet. By accessing public databases, we can get the following information on any company: – Registration details – History – Complaints and feedback – Pending and past lawsuits – Financial history – Identity verification of the owners, and so on In a short amount of time and by using minimal resources, we can help you determine if the company you are about to partner with will live up to your expectations. Because vendor due diligence are our area of expertise and we already have a framework in place, hiring us would cost you less than if you did the screening yourself. Our structured and reliable background checks will take a load off of your work while giving you the information that you need to make the right decision. While we take the responsibility of weeding out the bad apples of the business world, your resources can be channeled towards increasing your productivity. With the help of AuthBridge, due diligence checks of vendors and potential business partners no longer have to be a tedious process.

To understand more about Due diligence Services,

write to us at communication@authbridge.com or call us at +91-850-680-4541

By admin, ago

Significance of Police Verification while Hiring Blue-Collar Staff

Blue-collar jobs are most of the times sought after by those with less educational qualifications or lower economic backgrounds. Unfortunately, the situation of these individuals is conducive to getting involved in crime. From petty theft out of sheer desperation, to joining a gang due to peer pressure, many blue-collar employees can be found to have criminal records. These records can be found during a criminal record check or police database check. In a day and age where competition is high, and jobs can sometimes be scarce, it is not uncommon for people to try and hide unfavorable records from their pasts. People could hide records of a criminal past, either to get a job or to out rightly con a company and its customers. To avoid putting your business, employees and customers at risk, a Police verification of every new hire should be conducted.

 

Why a Police Record Check is important

Just last month there was a report in the Tribune about a six-year-old girl allegedly being sexually abused by a driver hired by her school. No one wants something like this to happen to their own or someone else’s child. A police database check of the driver before hiring him might have thrown up results of a criminal past that could have prevented him from being hired and the incident from taking place. Similarly, with domestic helps, personal chauffeurs, factory employees and so on, you need to be absolutely sure if the person you are hiring doesn’t have a criminal past. Without conducting a police verification, you can’t even be sure if the person you are hiring is who they say they are let alone if they have a police record. Crime rates are increasing, and further digging will show that a police record check could have prevented at least some of these incidents. When you conduct a police database check you can verify the identity of the individual, whether or not they have a past record or a case filed against them, and also what was the nature of the crime. Several details can be obtained from a police record check. A report in The Hindu shed light on a criminal racket involving a woman posing as a domestic help and then absconding with Rs.20,000/- to 25,000/- which were eventually received by her cronies. A Police verification would have revealed that the woman in question or her ‘agent’ were not who they said they were. In fact, running their pictures through a police database check might have actually revealed records of past crimes committed by them.

 

How AuthBridge can help

Using state of the art technology and algorithms created specifically for the purpose, AuthBridge can conduct a police verification by: – Conducting a litigation database check. – Police database check. – Court record check. – Criminal database check. – Identity verification through a police record check. AuthBridge takes the pressure off companies of conducting a police verification on potential employees on their own. Our quick and accurate police record check services will have a complete report ready for you quickly and efficiently to help you make important hiring decisions. A police verification can help you rest easy knowing that you made the right decision.

By admin, ago

Importance of Employee Reference Checks for a Safe Work Environment

A reference check should be more than just a formality during the hiring process. The extra step to verify a candidate’s credentials could prove invaluable to a company. An Employee reference check will also help the organisation to validate if the information presented by the candidate is true and does not contain omissions or false information.

 

Why are Employee Reference Checks important?

A recent report by AuthBridge revealed that 15.21% of the employees fudge their information while to get a new job. Falsified information ranged from pre-employment details and address information to educational qualifications. Another area where candidates generally choose to omit information is about a criminal past. A pre-employment check would not only verify that a candidate really worked for a particular organisation in the past, but will also provide insights into their behaviour and how well do they work with their peers. An employment reference check would also reveal any unsavoury behaviour of a candidate, if any. A criminal record check might not throw up any results if no charges were filed against a candidate, but violent physical behaviour can be brought to light with an employment reference check. Past employers who fired a candidate for being verbally abusive or prone to outburst of violence will most likely provide you with that information during an employee reference check. The candidate you choose to hire might have all the right skills and experience you are looking for, but if the same candidate is wrongfully using those skills to commit data theft, you are better off not hiring them. A reference check will equip you with details of any past wrongdoings on which to base your hiring decision. An employment reference check might reveal that the candidate did not work for a particular organisation, to begin with; this itself should prompt you to not hire the candidate.

An employee reference check will also provide details on whether a candidate can perform all the tasks listed on their resume or whether those are just embellishments.

 

What role does an Employment Reference Check play in a safe work culture?

As mentioned earlier, a reference check could reveal things about an employee that they deliberately keep hidden. Violent behaviour, fraud and poor performance are details many candidates hide, while work experience and educational qualification are sometimes elaborated. Hiring a candidate without an employee reference check could mean hiring someone who not only lies to get the job but who could be violent with other employees. Or you could hire a con artist who steals client data and uses it for personal gain. Either way, the safety of your organisation and other employees is at risk. This risk is easily avoided with a reference check.

 

AuthBridge conducts Employee Reference Checks

AuthBridge has state-of-the-art technology that can conduct employee reference checks quickly and efficiently. With AuthBridge’s services, companies no longer have to worry about lengthy and costly reference checks to protect themselves. With AuthBridge taking the pressure of conducting employment reference checks off you, you can rest assured that you are hiring the right candidates. Write to us at communication@authbridge.com or send us a message and we will get back to you at the earliest.

By admin, ago

Innovating Service Delivery in Background Verification

John comes to the office daily carrying a huge folder full of papers and documents containing details of candidates that are to be verified. He works in the verification department of a Global Background Screening Company serving a huge base of corporate clientele.

As his work involves looking into candidate documents and sending them for screening and verification, John is loaded with paperwork all the time!

Don’t you think it would be great if John had a solution where he could load all the information and work freely without the incessant piles of documents? The solution is simple, fast, and eco-friendly! Wheeling under the stress of digging out documents whenever a verification requirement comes up is passé. Now is the time to embrace new technology and upgradation to new line of work which not only paperless but also superlative in approach.

With increasing commercial and business opportunities, there has been a growing need to hire in large numbers, across the globe. Hiring the right people could be a tough task for the large employment pool. This is when background verification can simplify decision making for the HR professionals. With large hiring taking place, came unhealthy encounters like employee fraud, data and intellectual property theft, dubious business partners of unknown provenance, cybercrimes etc. To beat fierce competition, people resort to such malpractices. Hence, the severe effects of negligent hiring need to be checked and taken care of.

Background verification is important, both nationally and globally to save one bad apple from spoiling the whole bunch.

 

Changing paradigm in Background Verification

Technology has changed leaps and bounds, presenting new opportunities for international background screening. And this is why, background verification industry is getting revamped with fully integrated systems delivering efficiency, convenience and enhanced on-boarding experience. Disruption broke out with penetration into newer business segments, from unicorn startups to herculean on-demand companies and the new face of background screening was unmasked. Conventional background verification works perfectly for traditional businesses, but is quite incompatible with the global integration scene. Dynamic businesses with on-demand, real time servicing calls for a paperless office, with full automation to deliver real-time services. Instaneity in background verification is the ‘new normal’- quick, accurate, on time, real-time service delivery powered by technology. This involves use of machine learning, data analytics, artificial intelligence and more.

(Also Read: How background verification is pushing forward the adoption of automation in HR)

 

Conventional background screening turned redundant due to the below key challenges:

1. Paper driven– Conventional background verification wrestle with the daunting task of managing manual processes

2. Duplicity of efforts– Efforts in the businesses lead to duplication with conventional background checks

3. Prone to manual errors– Conventional pre-employment checks are labor intensive, putting pressure on people for accuracy and effectiveness. Reporting and checking data is also taken up loosely, when done manually- leading to manual errors.

4. Time consuming– Conventional background screening takes a lot of time to complete and produce results.

5. Complexity– The background screening process has multiple attributes and dependencies and is a complex process to manage.

Hiring processes in various companies across the world are still flagged by manual processes and involvement of vendors across locations. While vendor assistance is essential to the industry of background verification; however, it is time to make hiring as well as screening practices much smarter and sharper. Innovation in technology stems to long term sustainability and business viability. The Background Screening industry across the world is headed towards one-click verification with real-time service delivery to help build TrustOnDemand.

By admin, ago

It’s better late than never!

With the expansion of new growth sectors, companies seem to be on a hiring spree. The idea essentially is to boost growth and employment in the country. Increased hiring introduces increased responsibility to keep stringent background screening processes in place.

Unfortunately, the HR department of most companies do not have the time or expertise to conduct detailed background screening and hence, processes remain ineffective.

An expanded employment base adds greater risk to the hiring processes. A surge in the new sectors create more security threats than before, owing to their varying nature of business. In the UAE, as the financial sector grows, companies are moving towards mandatory background checks on job applicants with greater emphasis on compliance, with the increasing list of regulations.

Organisations need to be careful about customer safety and trust, especially at the start. To ensure this, comprehensive background screening cannot be bypassed, along with identity verification. Because if identity is not checked well in time, there is a good chance of the background check not being done on the right person. According to the US Department of Labour, a bad hire can cost employers 30 per cent of the employee’s potential first year earnings.

This would put the cost of a bad hire of an employee who makes, say, Dh 10,000 a month at Dh 36,000, which is huge. ‘’Hiring new employees without having a complete picture is an uncalculated risk that is now becoming even costlier after the recent change in the UAE for businesses to provide mandatory medical insurance to employees”, said Annalinde Nickisch, an HR consultant at The Thought Factor in Dubai. She added that many companies have few HR personnel handling everything from payroll to recruitment, meaning reference checks are often not thorough enough and are undocumented. In such a scenario, outsourcing background screening to experts would be a prudent decision. There is a pressing need to scale up processes to meet demands for instant checks.

By admin, ago
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