Employee Background Verification firm AuthBridge Research Services Pvt. Ltd. has revealed in a study that employers hiring 10-1000 employees a year stand at a higher risk of hiring candidates who lie on their resumes on various parameters.
The study by AuthBridge draws comparisons between discrepancy trends in employee verification for two groups – SMEs versus large employers. The data shows that for companies hiring in low volumes, the discrepancy rates are higher (9.28%) than those hiring in large volumes (6.20%). In other words, SMEs are 50% more likely to hire a wrong candidate.
According to the State of Working India 2018 (SWI) report, the unemployment rate in India has reached the highest level in the last 2 decades with youth unemployment being very high at 16%. The report also highlights that the shortage of jobs is compounded by low wages, with over 80% of the working lot earning less than Rs. 10,000/- per month. With good employment opportunities shrinking in both private and public sectors, the desperation and incentive to fake credentials are bound to increase.
AuthBridge’s study indicates that as large multinationals (i.e. companies hiring in big volumes)increasingly adopt stringent employee background verification process, the candidates that may get rejected or filtered out end up seeking jobs with smaller companies. And if these companies don’t conduct a background check of their employees, they are highly exposed to various risks. What if they hire a candidate with drug addiction or criminal history? Can an employee be trusted with sensitive business information or authority, who has fake credentials or financial fraud history? These threats are real today and a myriad of employee-fraud stories from across industries is an indicator that no company is infallible.
AuthBridge’s analysis reveals more insights evincing concerns for SMEs:
Shockingly, the percentage of candidates found discrepant for identity verification in case of SMEs were 6 times higher than large employers. Percentage of candidates lying about their past employment (or work experience) was 23% higher for SMEs. A disturbing finding came for drug checks, where the probability of encountering a candidate with drug usage was almost twice in case of small employers.
It was also found that for candidates under the age of 35, the discrepancy was again higher for SMEs (8.8%) as compared to larger ones (6.13%), while for candidates above the age of 35 the discrepancy percentages were alike. This comes with no surprise considering young people have a higher tendency to migrate and switch jobs to move up the ladder.
Founder and CEO of AuthBridge, Ajay Trehan commented on this data and said “Given the current education system and employment scenarios in our country, coupled with other socio-economic factors, the forces incentivising candidates to fudge their credentials may not be in employers’ control. But it’s high time that smaller companies wake up to this data and make background verification a mandatory step in their hiring process. Seeing such a trend, I hope companies see background verification as an investment towards hiring with confidence and trust; and eventually building a high performing workforce and mitigating financial & reputation risks. As anyone would agree that a candidate who can lie about their identity, education, experience and other credentials – is someone who should not be trusted and be made to represent any company in any capacity whatsoever.”
