Together we're rethinking employment verifications
We've partnered with Konfir to begin offering instant employment verifications across the UK. The move is set to overhaul the outdated employment referencing process by saving time while putting employees back in control of their data. Through the partnership we will bring our industry expertise and coverage while Konfir's proprietary technology launches the verification process into a new era.
Although verifying who you are and what you do is required to progress in modern society, this process has yet to move into the digital age. Whether renting, applying for a mortgage, or taking out a loan, verifications are unnecessarily manual; burdened by too many human touch points, cross-checks, and subsequent errors. Countless hours of admin have been created by the fundamental inability to digitise these processes and access the required data quickly and securely. The pain is felt by all, from employees waiting to start a new job, to lenders chasing information, and the wider economy losing out on productivity.
The problem is particularly evident in the employment verification market. We ran a survey of over 100,000 employment references and found that just 61% were ever returned, and only about half of these were processed without any issues. Alpha trials with Konfir have shown that adopting the digital platform has decreased turnaround time for verifications, and that's before factoring in instant verifications. With over six million job changes in the UK labour force every year, that's a massive efficiency gain to be captured. And that trend shows no sign of slowing, with job mobility higher than ever as a result of Covid and the Great Resignation.
Konfir have assembled a team of technical experts to build a solution using payroll and open banking data. The vast majority of UK adults have their key employment data trapped within either their monthly paychecks, or their financial transactions. Konfir's consent-driven process allows users to share this data on a single-use basis. That data is then used to determine when and where they worked and can be shared instantly with any party privy to their employment verification. This API-driven solution is already returning data that used to take days to be surfaced, in seconds.
Overall, referencing is the slowest part of the employment vetting process. Having led on innovation with UK GOV to accelerate other parts of the processes, including digital identity, digital right to work, and digital DBS, referencing is now the focus. And the appetite to accelerate this process is certainly evident within our client base; with 94% of employers saying they would use this digitised solution over manual referencing alone. Within the study of 100,000 references mentioned above, a whopping 31% of references were proven to have discrepancies against information such as place of work or dates of employment. Could this usher in the end of the CV as we know it? 54% of employers say that it can; from their point of view, this wouldn't only reduce time to hire, but also eliminate the need to chase after manual reference requests.
Embracing innovation is nothing new, having been leading specialists in pre-employment vetting for over eleven years and working 24/7 onshore in the UK. Our mission is to be at the forefront of industry changes and regulations and have been quoted in UK GOV press releases as well as Parliamentary briefings. Elsewhere, in the realm of Digital Credentials, we are part of a consortium creating an ecosystem where employers can verify credentials by connecting educational achievements and professional qualifications to a screening record in a matter of moments.
How will the integration work in practice? First, a candidate will provide detail about their activities to us, which can include employment, study, or a career break. We then relay the activity data to Konfir who send an SMS to the candidate, inviting them to connect their data sources. The activities listed are then verified against the candidates data sources and the reference is securely handed back to us to complete any remaining pre-employment checks.
The synergy and opportunity to disrupt an established market is clear. To hear more about this partnership, and how we're shaping the future of hiring, you can register for our next webinar here on July 7th.