5 Steps to Getting Better ROI From Your Background Screening Program

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BACKGROUND SCREENING DECISION GUIDE

Background checks have become an invaluable tool to help businesses make informed hiring decisions. But is your organization getting the most from your background screening platform?

Monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) around the hiring process, and your screening program in particular, can help you answer this question.

Introduction

Time-to-hire, cost-per-hire, and quality of the candidate pool are the most commonly used KPIs for hiring, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. Your organization’s metrics may differ; for example, you may also want to measure time-to-fill, turnover, or candidate satisfaction.

All too often, however, an outdated background check platform that lacks the features needed to measure your KPIs makes it difficult to assess your ROI, much less make progress toward your goals. Among the problems that can arise:

  • Inefficient manual procedures waste time that your HR team could be spending on higher-value activities.
  • A slow background screening process delays employee onboarding, leaving your organization to operate with key positions unfilled. You may even lose highly qualified candidates to competitors with faster screening processes.
  • Your background check provider’s unclear pricing and billing system makes it difficult to monitor costs. Without visibility into spending, you could be wasting money unknowingly.
  • Relying on inaccurate, outdated, or missing data can expose your organization to compliance violations, reputational harm, and even litigation.

Are you eager to avoid these risks, assess your screening provider’s true value, and improve the ROI of your background screening program?

Follow these five steps to assess your screening program, and see how Checkr’s advanced platform can help you get better background check ROI.

Step 1

Calculate costs and identify opportunities for savings

In addition to calculating actual costs of all employment screenings and services, you’ll also want to identify opportunities for hard and soft cost savings.

Why? While background checks may seem like a commoditized industry, all background screening vendors are not created equal.

Depending on the vendor you use, you may find that your HR team is still spending an inordinate amount of time managing the background check process and wasting time on tasks that could be automated, or eliminated altogether.

Conduct an assessment

To pinpoint potential areas of savings in your organization, ask each HR employee on your staff to estimate the average number of hours per week they devote to background checks:

  • Reviewing alerts, processing them against your adjudication matrix, and managing adverse action
  • Dealing with paper-based forms
  • Waiting on hold or emailing back and forth with your employment screening vendor to get status updates on background checks
  • Answering candidate questions about how to complete their background check, or what the status is
  • Manually pulling background check report data for audits or to track performance

Based on your HR team’s salary, how much money could you save by implementing a more efficient background check process? Do the math, and the answer will be clear.

An advanced background screening solution, like Checkr, automates workflows and eliminates those tedious, manual tasks, saving your organization time and money. These include:

Transparent pricing and easy-to-understand invoices
In order to monitor ROI, you need to know exactly what you’re paying for. Checkr lets you filter invoices by cost center for better insights. Knowing which costs to allocate to which part of your organization helps you monitor the performance of your screening program and facilitates accurate planning and budgeting.
Ability to track performance with reporting tools
The more ways you can slice-and-dice data about your background check program, the better you can monitor your KPIs and assess ROI. Checkr’s reporting and analytics capabilities enable you to track important metrics, such as average turnaround times for different screens, as well as track background screening volume by date range and by organization, location, or department.
Ability to manage decentralized hiring from one dashboard
Overseeing multiple hiring locations or entities can get complicated. You need a solution that enables Account Hierarchy, allowing you to oversee screening programs for multiple accounts—such as different locations, departments, brands, franchises, or client companies. Checkr simplifies administrative processes for multiple accounts, enabling you to control costs by setting up custom background check packages, fee settings, and feature access by specific account or user role.

Since switching to Checkr

72%
of organizations spend less time processing background checks*

Get more from your screening program with Checkr

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Step 2

Evaluate and customize screening packages

Conducting background checks is not a one-size-fits-all process. Different industries, locations, and positions require different background screenings, and your organization undoubtedly has its own unique criteria.

Performing unnecessary screenings can waste time and money. But omitting a critical check may expose you to costly compliance and liability issues.

Conduct an assessment

Look at your background check policy, then look at your screening packages.

  • Are your report packages based on the role the job candidate will play once hired?
  • Do you have different packages for different position levels?

For example, you might construct your policy to require employment verification and education verification for all senior management roles, but not for certain entry-level roles.

Avoid over screening — or under screening — and save money with a vendor that offers customization to fit your needs.

With an advanced background check platform, like Checkr, you get:

A wide range of screens
Comprehensive screening options ensure you can get the screens you need—not just today, but as your needs evolve. Checkr offers hundreds of screening services, including national, state, county, and federal criminal records checks; civil records checks; onsite and lab-based drug screening; motor vehicle records checks; credit reports, and many more.
Customizable screening packages
You can easily tailor Checkr’s screening packages based on a variety of factors, including industry, position, location, and company policy. Update your packages whenever relevant laws or your screening requirements change. Customizing packages by job role also helps ensure that all candidates for the same position types are screened consistently, supporting fair hiring practices and helping to protect your organization from legal liability.
Up-to-date, high-quality data and more accurate results
When you’re basing hiring decisions on background checks, you need to be confident the information returned is reliable. How can more accurate results improve efficiency? When a candidate flags an inaccuracy on their background check report, a dispute must be filed, which can take weeks to resolve. More disputes means more bottlenecks in your hiring process. Many CRAs may not use advanced technology to reliably match records like Checkr does, and are forced to process records manually, which increases turnaround times, and the chance for errors.

The Checkr platform uses machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to automate many processes that other providers may do manually. This includes an intelligent record-matching engine that is used to classify, sort, and assign records to candidates, enabling Checkr to complete a check more quickly and with a very high degree of confidence that the right criminal record is matched to the right person. When a background check requires human review, Checkr’s expert quality assurance team is there to help ensure accurate results.

step 3

Automate processes to improve efficiency

Reviewing each candidate’s results is among the most time-consuming tasks in the background screening process. You can’t skip this essential task, but you can find ways to do it faster and more accurately.

Conduct an assessment

Determine how much time your HR team spends manually reviewing background check results and comparing them against your adjudication guidelines.

  • How much time is spent contacting candidates to prompt them to start the background check process, provide the correct forms, guide them through the process, or answer questions?
  • How much time is spent simply flagging or clearing candidates, and how much is spent on higher-value tasks requiring a human touch, such as performing individualized assessments?
  • How much time is spent preparing and sending pre-adverse and adverse action notices?
  • Be sure to consider the time HR spends staying current on background check laws, especially if yours is a large organization with locations in different cities or states.

If your team is spending a disproportionate amount of time on these steps, selecting a vendor that can automate much of the process could make a huge difference.

A modern platform that includes features that help streamline the review process can make your team more productive and enhance the ROI of your screening program. With Checkr, these include:

Advanced technology in the candidate experience
Let’s face it, once you invite your candidate to start the background check process, it’s out of your hands. You need the candidate to begin — and complete the process — in a timely manner. You can improve background check efficiencies with a provider that offers a candidate-friendly workflow.Checkr makes it easy for candidates to start the process, and offers a wealth of self-help tools and resources within the candidate portal to minimize frustration, speed completion, and decrease contact rates (they call Checkr’s dedicated candidate support team, not you). Built-in error detection tools help prevent mistakes that might otherwise delay the background check, and ETAs and status updates keep candidates engaged, helping you build trust with your future new employees.
Customizable, automated adjudication
Manually comparing reports with results to your adjudication matrix is time-consuming and may create potential for errors. With Checkr’s advanced adjudication tools, you can set criteria for disqualifying offenses for specific roles and apply your chosen rules to speed your background check review workflows. Further, the adverse action workflow lets you start the FCRA-mandated process right from the dashboard. Checkr generates pre- and post-adverse action emails that include additional attachments, like a copy of the required documents or notices, and helps you manage mandatory waiting periods automatically.

Customers get greater efficiency with Assess

Reduce adjudication time by up to

90%

Reduce total cost-to-hire by up to

80%
Streamlined disclosure and consent requirements
Background check compliance requires adherence to federal, state, and local laws, which is especially challenging for regional or national organizations or those that hire remote employees. To comply with the FCRA, employers must provide proper disclosure of their intent to conduct a background check and receive authorization from the candidate to do so.Checkr helps streamline this process by providing disclosures and authorizations within the platform for the candidate to sign electronically. If the candidate or job location is in a state with additional disclosure requirements (like California), Checkr can automatically provide the additional state-specific disclosures based on how the screening is ordered.
Automated notifications and visibility throughout the process
Why is a candidate’s background screen taking so long? When can you expect results? Having to contact your provider for updates is frustrating and time-consuming—and while you’re stuck in limbo, you could lose top candidates to the competition.Checkr’s automated notifications provide updates so you always have visibility into the process. Receive updates for any changes to report status, as well as when candidates receive invitations or an invitation expires. To provide a better idea of how long a specific candidate’s background check will take, Checkr offers our unique Checkr ETA feature. Using machine learning, Checkr ETA uses past history to predict accurate turnaround times for county background checks and keeps you and your candidate updated on the status.

Customers improve time-to-hire with Checkr

89%
Faster turnaround times
86%
Simplified screening workflow
80%
Hire and onboard candidates faster

Step 4

Choose a solution that’s easy to use and integrates with your ATS or HRIS

Busy HR teams have plenty of work on their hands without learning to use complicated new software. Moreover, a solution that doesn’t integrate with your current workflow or technology may require manual workarounds—a clunky approach that wastes time and can introduce errors into the screening process.

Conduct an assessment

If your current background check solution doesn’t integrate with your ATS, identify the biggest problems this causes for your hiring team.

  • Do you have to log in and out of two different platforms?
  • Do you waste time entering candidates’ information twice?
  • Can your team easily access and view all of a candidate’s information in one place, or is data siloed?

To streamline and simplify your background check process, Checkr offers:

A user-friendly, mobile-friendly solution
A platform that’s simple to learn and easy to use helps your team get up to speed faster so you can hire faster. Checkr’s intuitive interface is also mobile-optimized, so you and your candidates can quickly take action wherever you happen to be.
Pre-built integrations for 100+ leading ATS and HRIS platforms
Manual work-arounds like logging into two different systems during the hiring process reduce efficiency and increase time-to-hire. Checkr connects to leading applicant tracking systems (ATS) and human resources information systems (HRIS) so you can start background checks from within your existing workflow for a seamless hiring experience.
Support for custom integrations
For some companies, it makes sense to build background checks into your app for quick, compliant screening and hiring. Checkr offers a world-class API that integrates with your in-house applications and workflows to maximize efficiency, speed onboarding and improve the candidate experience. If you’re looking for a more turnkey option, Checkr Embeds is the fastest way to add background check experiences to a product. The simplified integration process enables you to reduce development time and more quickly build an end-to-end background check experience.

Whichever option you choose — partner integration with an ATS or HRIS, API, or Embeds — integrating background checks into your workflows greatly increases your team’s efficiency and improves the ROI of your background screening program.

93% of customers rate Checkr’s integration as “better, best-in-class or superior” than other providers they’ve used.*

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step 5

Let your provider’s customer support do the heavy lifting

Cumbersome self-help solutions and poor customer service can slow down the background screening process, delay hires, and frustrate candidates. When you can’t get answers quickly, your efficiency plummets and you lose good candidates to competitors that finish screening faster.

Conduct an assessment

Find out how much time your HR team spends prompting candidates to start the screening process, answering their questions about their background check, or to learn the status of a delayed report. Since these details can be hard to track, you can also ask questions such as:

  • On average, how long does the screening process take from start to finish?
  • How helpful is our screening provider’s customer service?
  • Do you spend a lot of time on hold or waiting for email replies?
  • Is customer service available during the hours you need?
  • Are estimated completion times provided or reasons for delays explained?

Avoid customer service problems and save time with Checkr’s top-rated platform and support, which includes:

A straightforward candidate interface offering dedicated support
When you use Checkr, our user-friendly workflow makes it easy for candidates to complete the process; but if candidates have questions, they can call us for guidance instead of calling you. Once you’ve entered the candidate’s name and email address, Checkr handles the rest, providing a candidate-friendly workflow, automatically sending you and your candidate status updates, and providing a wealth of self-help tools and resources within the portal. Best of all, Checkr offers a dedicated candidate support team that provides support in English and Spanish, as well as other languages for international candidates.
A user-friendly platform with help at your fingertips
A mobile-optimized solution speeds up background checks by giving candidates and HR teams access wherever they are. With Checkr’s platform, candidates can use any device to start and complete their background check, view results, and even file disputes online. An integrated electronic consent process using e-signatures accelerates turnaround times and eliminates paper workflows. Plus, HR teams can quickly and easily access turnaround time ETAs, get status updates, take action, or request information from candidates, reducing delays.
Responsive, 24/7 customer support team
Expert assistance and transparent communication can make all the difference when you need answers quickly. Checkr’s customer support representatives are available by phone, online chat, or email. Our support team is FCRA trained and certified, so they can help you determine which screening packages fit your needs and budget, helping you save you time and money while protecting your organization.

92% of customers rate Checkr as  “better, best-in-class or superior” than other providers they’ve used.*

conclusion

Get more from your background check provider

Employee background checks have become a critical part of today’s hiring process. However, poorly executed background checks can slow the hiring process, cost your organization time and money, and increase your risk of litigation. If you’re ready to boost the ROI of your background check program, working with an industry-leading provider like Checkr can help.

Checkr is a recognized leader in employment screening. have won the trust of more than 100,000 employers, large and small. Driven to exceed customer expectations, we’ve set the bar high for speed and accuracy with fast turnaround times and low dispute rates. Customers love our platform’s intuitive workflows, built-in compliance tools, and user-friendly candidate experience.

Ready to get started with Checkr?

Find out how you can improve the efficiency of your screening program and get more return on your CRA investment with Checkr.

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* All customer proof points are from a 2023 Qualtrics survey of Checkr customers on why they choose and stay with Checkr.

About Checkr

Checkr’s mission is to build a fairer future by improving understanding of the past. Our platform makes it easy for thousands of customers to hire millions of people every year at the speed of the gig economy. Using Checkr’s advanced background check technology, companies of all sizes can better understand the dynamics of the changing workforce, bring transparency and fairness to their hiring, and ultimately build a better future for workers.