Thanks to datachecker we can now place candidates with confidence

“We did it ourselves for a long time,” says IT program manager Thijs van Rooijen. “That means: our own recruiters checked the IDs and employment documents of candidate temporary workers. And then there were two more internal checks – both from the middle office and from the payroll department. Until last year." What happened then? “We always review our processes for effectiveness and efficiency. At a certain point we saw that this process could be done better and faster. With an extra focus on user-friendliness, both for our internal employees and for our candidate temporary workers.”

Train employees
“We set high quality standards for ourselves,” continues Kees Rienks, Quality, Compliance & Corporate Responsibility manager at Adecco. “And we continuously monitor whether we comply with this. So we want to discover and implement areas for improvement as quickly as possible. We prefer to prevent problems rather than having to solve them.” Based on this philosophy, Adecco decided years ago to train relevant employees in checking IDs and employment documents.

“This training has sufficed for a long time,” says Kees. “But we have seen in recent years that it is becoming more difficult for these hundreds of employees to obtain, retain and apply the right knowledge. Legal requirements are changing increasingly faster and are often becoming more complex. More and more people with non-European nationalities are also knocking on our door, with documents that are less familiar to us. Additional conditions or exception rules sometimes apply to them – temporarily or otherwise.”

Choose DataChecker
Thijs: “We continue to train our employees. But it is increasingly difficult to guarantee that they correctly assess every ID or employment document. And so that they never accidentally place someone with unsuitable documents. The growing number of candidates makes this extra challenging.” Yet Adecco is willing to give that guarantee. “Employers and legislators expect this from us – and rightly so. Moreover, we do not want to run the risk of fines. Or loss of certification.”

When internal research showed that this risk was real, the decision was made quickly: an external expert had to be involved. An organization that had the latest knowledge available, provided technology for good checks and also carried out these checks itself. “DataChecker turned out to be the only party that met those criteria at the right level,” says Thijs. “The big plus was that they could link their system to ours. This means we can now work with DataChecker in our online Adecco environment.”

Requirements: quickly and carefully
“As Adecco, we remain ultimately responsible for the accuracy of all ID and right-to-work checks,” Kees emphasizes. “But DataChecker complements our efforts very well. We listen carefully to each other, think in possibilities and look for solutions together.” Kees appreciates that DataChecker clearly indicates boundaries. “If implementing our wishes jeopardizes the quality of ID and right-to-work checks, DataChecker will say so. And she indicates that that is why she would rather not do it. Exactly what you expect from a serious partner.”

This partnership started before DataChecker had done a single check. Kees explains how Adecco first created a project group together with DataChecker. “That group listed all the requirements that our onboarding had to meet. Including the wishes of employees, candidates and clients.” An important wish? “Everyone wants onboarding to go quickly and smoothly, because time is money. I also support that. But of course it shouldn't happen too fast. Hastiness should never lead to incorrect ID and right-to-work checks.”

Own Adecco process
Together with DataChecker, Adecco developed a 'funnel': a series of online steps for good ID and right-to-work checks. “There are steps for DataChecker, Adecco employees and candidates,” says Thijs. “The latter now have to upload more themselves than before. What and how does the system explain to them, where they can choose from 17 languages.” Every step must be completed correctly, from uploading to validating photos and document scans. “Only then can candidates get a contract. Thanks to this 'Adecco process' it is now impossible to place people before DataChecker has confirmed that their ID and right to work are in order.”

DataChecker's software for these checks is very user-friendly, says Thijs. “We receive it on demand, as 'Software as a Service' - so via the internet and including installation, maintenance and management. DataChecker clearly pays attention to the user experience, which is crucial for the digital transformation of the onboarding process. Employees can also always contact DataChecker with questions, by chat or telephone – and will receive a quick response. This also helps them to complete every step in the ID and right-to-work checks correctly in accordance with privacy legislation, within the system and in a fixed order, so that we can more easily see any bottlenecks and register data correctly.”

Deal with resistance
Kees: “We have clearly agreed that all steps must be done within the system. This means that, for example, photos may not be sent to DataChecker by e-mail. And so there are more agreements on very different matters: from retention periods for uploaded documents and photos to the time that DataChecker is allowed to complete a check. And from reports to the handling of employee complaints.” Do these complaints exist? “Not that much, fortunately, and less and less. There was some resistance to the new process among a number of colleagues. For example, they were afraid that it would cost them too much time if they always had to wait for DataChecker's response.”

Not that Adecco had not communicated anything about the change in advance. “On the contrary: we had used webinars, training and platforms,” says Thijs. “But communication is also needed after the introduction. We decided to take stock of the resistance. And they restored peace - both by listening to user experiences and by clearly stating what people could and could not expect from DataChecker, for example in terms of response time. As a result, employees saw, among other things, that DataChecker is usually much faster than the number of hours they are allowed to complete a response. Satisfaction has been growing ever since.”

Peace of mind
“The growing satisfaction is also because people are getting used to the process,” says Kees. “Because of this habituation, the clear feedback from DataChecker and increasingly better tooling, our colleagues and candidates make fewer mistakes during process steps - such as submitting a photo that is slightly too dark. They therefore have to repeat these steps less often. That saves a lot of frustration.” Employees are also happy with the results of DataChecker, according to Kees. “We often share that. Everyone knows that DataChecker picks out potentially fraudulent documents that would otherwise have gone unnoticed.”

This impact is fantastic from a compliance perspective, says Kees. “And employees are happy that DataChecker helps them to prevent errors without putting a straightjacket on them. Moreover, they see that DataChecker has less and less to comment on. That makes them feel good. They like the fact that they can now serve candidates well – thanks to DataChecker and despite more complex legislation – and put them to work with peace of mind.” Kees therefore calls it “difficult” to find areas for improvement in the collaboration. “Bottom line, we are very satisfied.”