Services and work processes of the highest quality. That is what employment agency Adecco constantly strives for – certainly also when it comes to the onboarding of temporary workers. So when its own research revealed areas for improvement for the ID and right-to-work check, the company immediately looked for a solution. It has been finding it at DataChecker since September 2023. What does this solution look like?
“We did it ourselves for a long time,” says IT program manager Thijs van Rooijen. “That is to say: 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 better and faster. With extra focus on user-friendliness, both for our internal employees and for our candidate temporary workers.”
Training employees
“We set high quality standards for ourselves,” continues Kees Rienks, manager Quality, Compliance & Corporate Responsibility at Adecco. “And we continuously monitor whether we meet them. So we want to discover and implement improvements as quickly as possible. In doing so, 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 been sufficient for a long time,” says Kees. “But in recent years we have seen that it is becoming more difficult for these hundreds of employees to obtain, retain and apply the right knowledge. Legal requirements are changing increasingly quickly and are often becoming more complex. We are also increasingly contacted by people with non-European nationalities, with documents that are less familiar to us. Sometimes additional conditions or exceptions apply to them – temporarily or otherwise.”
Choosing DataChecker
Thijs: “We continue to train our employees. But it is increasingly difficult to guarantee that they assess every ID or employment document correctly. And therefore that they never accidentally place someone with unsuitable documents. The growing number of candidates makes this extra challenging.” Nevertheless, Adecco wants 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 called in. An organization that had the latest knowledge at hand, provided technology for good checks and also performed these checks themselves. “DataChecker turned out to be the only party that met those criteria at the right level,” says Thijs. “With the big plus that they were able to link their system to ours. As a result, we can now work with DataChecker in our online Adecco environment.”
Requirements: fast and careful
“As Adecco, we remain ultimately responsible for the accuracy of all ID and right-to-work checks,” Kees emphasizes. “But DataChecker complements our efforts excellently. We listen carefully to each other, think in possibilities and look for solutions together.” Kees appreciates the fact that DataChecker clearly sets boundaries. “If implementing our wishes would jeopardize the quality of ID and right-to-work checks, DataChecker will say so. And indicate that they would therefore rather not do it. Exactly what you expect from a serious partner.”
This partnership began before DataChecker had even done a single check. Kees explains how Adecco first set up 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 be fast and smooth, because time is money. I also believe in that. But of course it shouldn’t go too fast. Being hasty should never lead to the ID and right-to-work checks being incorrect.”
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. The system explains what and how, and they can choose from 17 languages.” Each step must be completed correctly, from uploading to validating photos and document scans. “Only then can candidates receive 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 get it on demand, as ‘Software as a Service’ – so via the internet and including installation, maintenance and management. In addition, DataChecker clearly focuses on the user experience, which is crucial for the digital transformation of the onboarding process. Employees can also always contact DataChecker with questions, via chat or telephone – and then receive a quick response. That also helps them to take each 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 agreed very clearly that all steps must take place within the system. That, for example, photos may not be sent to DataChecker by e-mail. And there are more agreements, on very different matters: from retention periods for uploaded documents and photos to the time that DataChecker may take to perform a check. And from reports to the handling of employee complaints.” Are there any such complaints? “Not that many, fortunately, and fewer and fewer. There was some resistance to the new process among a number of colleagues. For example, they were afraid that it would take them too much time if they had to wait for DataChecker’s response all the time.”
Not that Adecco had not communicated anything about the change in advance. “On the contrary: we had deployed webinars, training courses and platforms,” says Thijs. “But communication is also necessary after the introduction. We decided to inventory the resistance. And restored calm – both by listening to user experiences and by clearly explaining 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 take for a response. Since then, satisfaction has increased.”
Peace of mind
“The growing satisfaction is also because people are getting used to the process,” says Kees. “Because of that familiarization, the clear feedback from DataChecker and increasingly better tools, our colleagues and candidates make fewer mistakes during process steps – such as submitting a photo that is just a little too dark. They therefore have to repeat those steps less often. That saves a lot of frustration.” Employees are also happy with the results of DataChecker, says Kees. “We often share them. That way, 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 prevent errors, without imposing a straitjacket on them. Moreover, they see that DataChecker has less and less to criticize. That gives them a good feeling. They like that they can now serve candidates well – thanks to DataChecker and despite more complex legislation – and can put them to work with peace of mind.” Kees therefore calls it “difficult” to find areas for improvement in the collaboration. “In the end, we are very satisfied.”
