The Growing Trends Of Employee Background Verification in India!

Different people perceive background verification in different ways. However, it gets worldwide recognition as a crucial function in an economy where people can trust one another. The criticality of this factor increases in nations with a more significant trust deficit. In such regions, service providers and employers are extra diligent while hiring or at the time of offering their services. 

So, in India, the trend of conducting employee background verification (BGV) at the time of hiring is rapidly increasing. In fact, it is moving past the formal economy. Modern employers want to be surer about the people they hire. A high degree of connection exists between the personal traits and values of the people hired and the growth of the company. Even the slightest bit of misinformation on the CV is turning into a strict no-no.

With that being said, here’s looking into the growing trends of employee BGV in the country.

New Domains and Evolving Motivations of Background Verification

With more people from the unorganized sector joining the formal economy, the scenario of employee BGV is rapidly evolving. It was already a norm in industries like insurance, finance, banking, and IT/ITES. Even sectors like education, healthcare, hospitality, auto, manufacturing, staffing, transportation, retail, logistics, and eCommerce have embraced it.

One of the reasons behind this trend is the critical cost barrier to BGV, with companies like AuthBridge offering low-cost options. Thus, employers can widely conduct the verification across different ranks of employees. The emerging technology has allowed the BGV companies to provide cost-effective solutions that are more efficient than expensive manual checks.

Indian startups going for BGV prove that they want to get the right people on board from day one. Employers who work with contractors on third-party payrolls are trying to verify the contractors. At the end of the day, the contractor represents their brand. The staffing providers usually do not carry out BGV thoroughly. 

Fraudulent information on a CV continues to be a pain point in any hiring process. This factor acts as the primary motivator for employers to partner up with BGV companies to mitigate time risks.

Noticeable Trends in the Common Checks Conducted At Present

Employee BGV means conducting a combination of several checks. It varies from one company to another. In any case, a background verification company in India performs the following checks in the white-collar segment of a company.

  • Identity (voter ID, PAN card, Aadhaar card, etc.)
  • Prior employment records
  • Highest educational qualification record
  • Court record verification
  • Professional reference checks from prior employers

The last check is getting adopted to know more about the qualities of candidates that can add value to their work.

In the grey-collar and blue-collar segments, the usual combination of checks are:

  • Identity (voter ID, PAN card, Aadhaar card, etc.)
  • Court record verification
  • Address verification

Address verification comes with two options: permanent address or current address. Usually, employers go with their current address, but some of them want to verify both. With domestic migration, both inter-state and intra-state, being on the rise, the demand for address verification in India continues to increase.

The main reasons behind why these checks are popular happen to be:

  1. The effectiveness and efficacy of the checks in capturing the red flags, and
  2. Higher returns on investment to set up and run an employee BGV program

Checks Not Conducted At Present

Modern employers aren’t too keen on checks like drug tests that need bodily samples and social media verifications because of their intrusive nature. The landmark privacy decision of the Supreme Court has made employers wary about drug testing. They also do not believe in carrying out discrimination depending on social media preferences, discourses, and beliefs.

Even police verifications through Government departments are on a downfall. The process is highly manual, with a greater degree of variation from one jurisdiction to another at a police station level. Some jurisdictions ask for the physical presence of the employee, which is an added hassle.

Police verification also leads to a PCC (Police Clearance Certificate) in few cases. Usually, it all halts at the acknowledgment stage. A small number of employers are now asking the employees to bring the PCC with them. Many senior employees from the white-collar section also consider physical address verifications intrusive. Employers might skip address verifications for such senior employees. Global database checks get less preference nowadays compared to court record checks.

No regulatory or Government body dictates the employers on the kind of background checks they should conduct. It is the discretion of the employers based on the pros and cons they perceive for each type of verification.

You can reach out to companies like AuthBridge in order to streamline the verification process for your business!

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