Planting the Seeds of Success: Thistle's Journey to Streamlined Hiring with Checkr

Thistle, a plant-forward meal delivery service, is on a mission to make it easy to get and stay healthy while improving the sustainability of our food system. As Director of People Operations, Karina Rymer oversees all aspects of the people’s experience, ensuring our team is engaged, supported, and thriving, which allows them to cultivate a vibrant and inclusive workplace culture.

Karina and her team hire for all roles, from corporate to plan to delivery drivers, which is their largest employee population. Upon experiencing slow turnaround times, candidate drop-off, and a cumbersome experience for candidates, Thistle sought a more efficient and automated solution that could provide faster turnaround times and support their goal of hiring 400 to 500 employees annually.

Their previous background check process was slow, with reports taking more than five days to be received. In addition to losing qualified candidates due to slow and inefficient processes, Karina and her team struggled with easily accessing and reviewing report statuses. They needed a partner capable of reducing average turnaround times while still providing comprehensive and accurate background checks.

Thistle found the solution they were looking for in Checkr. “What stood out about Checkr was the user-friendly interface, combined with the ability to access detailed candidate information - these factors ultimately drove our decision to move to Checkr,” said Karina. Upon implementing Checkr, Karina instantly noticed several improvements in their hiring process. First, the direct integration with their Applicant Tracking System (ATS), Lever, automated the sending of background checks, reducing the average turnaround time significantly. Second, there was an enhanced ability for their people operations team to review and adjudicate reports, giving them more control over the process.

To guarantee safety and meet compliance requirements, Thistle conducts thorough criminal background checks on all employees. Additionally, all of their delivery drivers undergo motor vehicle record checks. Thistle leverages Checkr's subscription feature to facilitate the ordering of annual MVR checks. “The driving records go through Checkr on a yearly basis,” said Karina, “If something comes up on an annual check, we’re able to receive that alert right away. It allows us to make sure that we are meeting safety and compliance standards for our drivers.”

Since partnering with Checkr, Thistle has significantly reduced the time it takes to fill positions. The quick turnaround time on background checks, within 48 hours or less, has allowed them to bring new hires on board quickly and avoid the costs associated with candidate drop-off, “If candidate drop-off occurs, that’s more time the recruiting team spends finding new candidates,” said Karina, “It also causes an increase in sourcing costs if we don’t move candidates forward fast enough, so the speed that Checkr provides helps us avoid those added costs.”

Thistle often receives positive feedback from candidates about the quick and simple background check process using Checkr. The transparency and ability to communicate directly with candidates through Checkr's candidate portal has greatly improved the candidate experience.

Partnering with Checkr has not only improved Thistle's hiring process, but it has also created a more positive experience for candidates. This aligns with their mission of providing convenient and accessible plant-based meals by ensuring they recruit top-quality employees.