Inside Swanson Health’s safety‑first hiring with Checkr and BambooHR

For a regulated manufacturer where safety comes first, every hire is a potential risk. Swanson enforces strict safety standards, and Senior Human Resources Manager Becky Feltman says that standard shapes every hire.

Theft or financial issues are typically a no-go, and every hire completes a background check plus a 10-panel drug test—no exceptions. Roles that touch the product itself, like the manufacturing equipment operators who fill capsules and the packaging team that bottles and seals them, get extra scrutiny because Swanson is regulated by agencies that verify the potency and safety of what ships out.

“We’re very high on safety here. Every hire has to meet our standards in a highly regulated environment.”

Swanson’s workforce spans on-site manufacturing and fulfillment roles in Fargo, as well as roughly 90 remote employees across 23 states. In past years, the company has hired more than 200 people annually. Any friction in the background check process quickly becomes a hiring bottleneck.

Checkr helps Swanson maintain these safety standards at scale, without slowing down hiring.

Swanson has ordered background checks and drug tests through Checkr since 2023, with the process integrated directly into BambooHR. Feltman calls the setup "wonderful."

That one-click, state-specific setup matters for a workforce spread across 23 states. HR doesn’t need to worry about selecting the right package or building separate workflows for each location—Checkr and BambooHR handle the complexity behind the scenes.

Feltman also points to Checkr’s analytics and the ease of getting support when she’s needed it as reasons Swanson has stayed with Checkr as the business has grown.

Many of Swanson’s hires don’t have a desktop or tablet at home. When Feltman joined the company, she started her own background check on her phone, just like many of the candidates she hires today.

Because Checkr is mobile-first, candidates can complete their background check and 10-panel drug test requirements directly from their phones, wherever they are. That ease of use is critical for manufacturing and fulfillment roles and helps Swanson avoid delays caused by access to technology.

When Swanson’s CEO wanted to understand adverse actions and how many candidates the company was turning away, Feltman didn’t have to build a manual report. She turned to Checkr’s built-in analytics.

“Checkr’s analytics are really helpful. We can see how many background checks we’ve ordered without building manual reports—it’s taken a lot of time off our plate.”

Now, leadership can quickly see check volume and adverse actions without having to ask HR to pull custom data. That visibility helps Swanson make more informed decisions about hiring and risk, while freeing HR from repetitive reporting tasks.

Swanson has worked with Checkr since 2023, through a period when the company has kept hiring across manufacturing, fulfillment, and a growing remote team. Feltman says the process runs the way it should, quietly and without friction, so her team can focus on hiring rather than chasing down paperwork.

With Checkr in place, Swanson’s HR team can maintain strict safety standards, move faster on hiring, and give leadership the insight they need—all without adding complexity to their day-to-day work.