What’s been the impact on recruitment since Right to Work checks went digital?

By Sarah Croft | July 17, 2023 | Compliance, Digital identity, Identity verification, Right to Work

In this blog, TrustID examines some of the lessons learnt by employers since Right to Work (RtW) guidance permitted digital checks. From our conversations with delegates at recent events, including HR Technologies and the Festival of Work, we’ve drawn together some interesting insights that we thought we would share.

The TrustID team has recently been out and about! We’ve loved engaging with HR and talent leaders from organisations of all sizes and across multiple sectors at the recent Festival of Work and HR Technologies shows.

A topic of many conversations has been the impact of technology on HR and recruitment activities. Speaking face-to-face gave us a welcome opportunity to hear how organisations have been dealing with the changes to Right to Work (RtW) guidance that permits digital checks by Identity Service Providers (IDSPs) like us.

Here are some of the things we discovered over the course of our conversations, and some of the lessons that have been learnt along the way.

HR teams have welcomed the change because of the many immediate benefits

HR and onboarding teams have been enthusiastic adopters of the technical approach, mainly because they are aware of the benefits that it provides to aid their day-to-day recruitment processes. These teams are on the frontline of recruiting candidates and digital RtW checks help them in some significant ways. They see great reduction in their administration overhead and the time saved through increased efficiency can be used effectively on other valuable HR practices. There’s also greater confidence that the organisation is even more compliant with RtW legislation, combining technology with human expertise within both their organisation and the IDSP.
As awareness of the benefits of digital RtW spreads, it is likely to increase uptake across a broader range of sectors and roles in the future. If you’re still performing manual checks, take a look at the benefits of adopting digital RtW checks for the whole of your business.

Find out about digital RtW checks

Not every company has made the move

We’ve also learnt that some sectors have been quicker to adopt digital RtW checks than others. There are still companies that have taken a ‘wait and see’ approach to introducing digital checks. Digital checks are, after all, optional and despite possible benefits, some organisations haven’t yet adopted them, preferring instead to stick with in-person checking. This trend rather goes against what we found in our survey of over 100 HR professionals last November, where over half of respondents told us that RtW checks now take longer than they did before the Covid-related adjustments were removed.

On the flip side, some of the greatest uptake has been among ‘new’ sectors. Before October 2022, Right to Work technology was largely deployed by high-volume recruiters, healthcare professionals, construction, care and public sector organisations. However, since digital has been an option for all organisations, onboarding teams across all sectors have turned to IDSPs.

Not surprisingly, uptake has been particularly strong among software and technology companies. As technology developers, they’re familiar with the benefits of digitising manual processes and, since Covid, have largely embraced remote and/or hybrid working. This is now almost universally offered amid a staff shortage, and companies are looking for ways to efficiently onboard remote teams. Once the guidance changed to allow digital checks and they became aware of the solution, they were quick to benefit from the faster digital processes. The efficiency gains are also widely recognised across the charity sector which saves time and money by not having face-to-face meetings to verify ID, especially among remote or in-the-field workers.

One of the key lessons coming out of our conversations is that it’s not too late to adopt digital RtW checks. For anyone who maybe in two minds about choosing an IDSP to help, why not take a look at some key questions to ask to help you find a trusted partner for your process.

Integrating digital RtW with other recruitment technology is seen as a winning combination

Candidate and employee experience is a major differentiator, especially in a competitive recruitment environment. Many organisations expressed to us a desire for integrated solutions and streamlined processes to onboard new employees. Often, they are looking for technology that will integrate into their applicant tracking systems (ATS), payroll programs, or customer relationship management (CRM) software so they can create bespoke candidate journeys and effortlessly share data between systems.

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So, how does this look in the real world?

One TrustID customer, Harbour Hotels Group, chose to deploy Right to Work checks integrated into their specialist hospitality ATS platform, Harri. The integrated process means that when a candidate reaches the appropriate stage in the hiring process and the onboarding manager is ready to run a check, the TrustID RtW service pops up within the ATS interface allowing the relevant documents to then be checked. This integrated solution has given every manager at the luxury hotel brand a straightforward recruitment process from within a single interface.

James Godwin, People & Business Administration Director at Harbour Hotels Group told us:

“We’re focused on finding and recruiting the best people and part of that is being able to offer a positive onboarding process, whenever and from wherever candidates are applying. Having TrustID integrated into our recruitment system helps us do just that – it’s a smooth process for everyone involved, checks come back exceptionally quickly, and it’s led to an improved overall experience for staff and candidates. And we have peace of mind that our applicant records stay compliant!”

Integrating digital RtW technology into the application process enables HR organisations to streamline workflows and improve the candidate and employee experience with bespoke, faster and user-friendly onboarding solutions.

To sum up what we have discovered on our recent travels; since the introduction of digital RtW checking, HR teams and professionals across all industry sectors have seen a reduction in the administrative burden and have been able to recover a significant amount of time to devote to other valuable HR processes.

We’ve engaged in many interesting conversations with HR teams and recruiters. If you would like to continue the discussion, get in touch with a member of the TrustID team. We’d love to hear from you.