As a company, your business runs on trust. You deal with people and organizations – whether employees, customers, or vendors – with the belief that they are whom they claim to be, and that they will do what they are supposed to do. However, in today’s scenario, with the explosion of remote hiring, WFH, global suppliers, and relationships that are completely based on digital communication, there is an urgent need for that trust to be backed by verification
The Covid19 pandemic disrupted the way we work, in some ways for the better. Lockdowns and restrictions forced companies to look at alternate working styles, and the work-from-home option enabled the expansion of the workforce as it was no longer restricted by geographies. It was not restricted to employees. Other associates like vendors and suppliers also had to be brought on board without many of the usual formalities – either in the interests of time, travel limitations, or new needs like masks, sanitizers, and other health-related requirements.
However, the changes came with a set of drawbacks and risks, the most important of them being risks associated with remote hiring and onboarding. Many of these are coming to light with the post-Covid return to work moves in many organizations.
As we come to the end of Q4, it is the perfect time to revisit the risks, and explore ways to mitigate, if not completely eliminate them by putting solutions in place for vendor verification, employee background verification, and the detection of interview impersonation.
Vendor verification matters
The Covid-induced emergency-like situation may have seen many organizations having to onboard vendors for various supplies and services in a hurry, or without the usual formalities due to other constraints. The authenticity and integrity of your vendors play a direct role in the success and reputation of your business. At the most basic level, an organization is known by the company it keeps (pardon the pun). An unethical associate or one with criminal antecedents reflects directly on your reputation. Not to mention financial and audit complications brought on by questionable relationships. The risk of outright corruption or illegal transactions looms large as well.
The solution is comprehensive vendor verification, not just at the onboarding phase, but also at regular intervals to ensure that the records are clear. Especially when you consider that most vendor relationships last for years, it is vital that the right vendors are the only ones that make the grade.
Here are some of the information and checks that a verification solution can verify and uncover red flags if any:
- Company Legal Name and Address
- Ownership Structure
- Articles of Incorporation
- Tax Information/GST Verification
- Credit Check
- Business Licenses, Credentials, Permits, Etc.
- Contact Information (Email, Phone Numbers, Etc.)
- Criminal and legal checks
- Know Your Customer (KYC)
- Know Your Business (KYB)
- Anti-Money Laundering (AML)
A robust solution will also offer the ability to run recurring checks, especially criminal or court record verifications and GST verifications to keep the company protected on an ongoing basis.
If you have onboarded vendors in the last few years, it may be a good idea to implement a digital verification solution, one where you can receive almost all the information in real time. The solution can also run checks on your older, long-term vendors to ensure that there are no items of concern.
Interview impersonation detection
The rise of work from home and remote working was accompanied by a surge in remote hiring, with many candidates and interviewers never meeting in person. The benefits of remote hiring had to be balanced with the risks involved. The first point of vulnerability in the hiring process is the potential for interview impersonation. There have been many cases of candidates using proxies to undergo the video interview and even written tests.
You can detect interview impersonation by implementing a solution that uses government IDs, face recognition, and voice matching to ensure that the candidate who attends the interview is:
a) Who they say they are and
b) The same person who appears for multiple rounds, and finally joins the company.
A comprehensive interview impersonation solution uses 3-factor authentication – Face, Voice, and ID. The solution has face recognition capabilities of up to 99% accuracy and works on video as well as still images from a screen capture. Even identical twins can be detected with the right software. When it comes to audio samples, the software requires just a few seconds of audio to match. The data available in government databases ensures that the person you are talking to is who they say they are. Government ID authentication and a face match to the video help ensure you are speaking to the right person.
The solution can be integrated with the existing ATS in your HRIS to make the process seamless. The solution detects impersonation in real-time and can terminate the interview so that no time is wasted on unethical candidates.
Employee background verification
Apart from interview impersonation and other identity-related fraud, there has been an increase in the submission of false credentials and certificates for employment.
Employee background verification is becoming more crucial, especially as the displacements caused by Covid have led to unprecedented distress, and has led to a rise in fake certificates being presented. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/trendspotting/it-talent-shortage-e-hiring-lead-to-surge-in-fake-cvs/articleshow/95395318.cms
In the article, Vikram Shroff, head of HR law at law firm Nishith Desai Associates, says that with the entire recruitment process moving online due to the pandemic, cases of fake documentation and resumes have increased significantly. “This calls for stringent and thorough background checks on the part of employers,”
The selected verification solution should be able to integrate with your company’s ATS and HRIS and return almost-instant results for most verification checks. An AI-powered verification service that utilizes componentized government documents and connects with government databases can offer real-time digital verification of the potential employee’s information. The fields that can be covered include:
Digital Identity Verification
- Digital Address Verification
- Employment Verification
- Education Verification
- Criminal Record Check
- International Database search
- Court Record Checks
The verification process can extend up to the actual joining date; in continuation of the interview impersonation solution, the candidate can be authenticated as the person who appeared in all the previous rounds.
This comprehensive authentication and verification process is vital to ensure that you have a secure workplace. Fraudulent or unethical employees and vendors can cause irreparable damage to your company’s reputation, client relationships, and even cause internal conflict, not to mention industrial sabotage and corrupt practices. A robust solution will also offer the ability to run recurring checks, especially criminal or court record verifications to keep the company protected on an ongoing basis.
Ensure that you that a capable verification solution that can work seamlessly with your systems and red-flag issues as and when they happen so that your company stays protected, and you can hire with confidence.