Services and work processes of the highest quality. There strives employment agency Adecco is constantly looking for – especially what the onboarding of temporary workers. So when our own research showed areas for improvement for the ID– and right to workCheck, the company immediately looked for a solution. It has been there 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 an extra focus on user-friendliness, both for our internal employees and for our candidate temporary workers."
Train employees
“We set high quality standards for ourselves,” continues Kees Rienks, Quality, Compliance & Corporate Responsibility manager at Adecco. “And we continuously monitor whether we comply with these requirements. So we want to discover and implement areas for improvement as quickly as possible. 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 sufficed for a long time,” says Kees. "But we have seen in recent years that it is becoming more difficult for these hundreds of employees to obtain, retain and apply the right knowledge. Legal requirements are changing faster and faster and are often becoming more complex. More and more people with non-European nationalities are also contacting us, with documents that are less familiar to us. Additional conditions or exception rules sometimes apply to them - temporarily or otherwise."
Choice for DataChecker
Thijs: “We continue to train our employees. But it is increasingly difficult to guarantee that they assess every ID or employment document correctly. This means that they never accidentally place someone with unsuitable documents. The growing number of candidates makes this extra challenging.” Yet Adecco is willing 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 involved. An organization that had the latest knowledge available, provided technology for good checks and also carried out these checks itself. “DataChecker bleek de enige partij die op het juiste niveau aan die criteria voldeed”, vertelt Thijs. “Met als grote plus dat zij hun systeem aan het onze konden koppelen. Daardoor kunnen we nu in onze online Adecco-omgeving met DataChecker to collaborate."
Requirements: quickly and carefully
“As Adecco we remain ultimately responsible for the accuracy of all ID and right-to-work checks,” Kees emphasizes. “But DataChecker complements our efforts extremely well. We listen carefully to each other, think in possibilities and look for solutions together.” Kees appreciates that DataChecker clearly indicates boundaries. “If implementing our wishes endangers the quality of ID and right-to-work checks, then DataChecker that. And she indicates that that is why she would rather not do it. Exactly what you expect from a serious partner.”
This partnership started before DataChecker had done even one check. Kees explains how Adecco first created 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 go quickly and smoothly, because time is money. I also support that. But of course it should not be done too quickly. Rushing should never lead to incorrect ID and right-to-work checks.”
Own Adecco process
Together with DataChecker ontwikkelde Adecco een ‘funnel’: een serie online stappen voor goede ID- en right-to-work-checks. “Er zijn stappen voor DataChecker, Adecco-medewerkers en kandidaten”, vertelt Thijs. “Die laatsten moeten nu meer zelf uploaden dan vroeger. Wat en hoe legt het systeem hun uit, waarbij ze kunnen kiezen uit 17 talen.” Elke stap moet op de juiste manier afgerond zijn, van het uploaden tot het valideren van foto’s en documentscans. “Dán pas kunnen kandidaten een contract krijgen. Dankzij dit ‘Adecco-proces’ is het nu onmogelijk om mensen te plaatsen voordat DataChecker heeft bevestigd dat hun ID en de right to work in orde zijn.”
DataChecker's software for these checks is very user-friendly, says Thijs. “We receive it on demand, as 'Software as a Service' - so via the internet and including installation, maintenance and management. DataChecker clear attention to the user experience, crucial for the digital transformation of the onboarding process. Employees can also always access it DataChecker ask questions, by chat or telephone – and receive a quick response. This also helps them to complete every 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.”
Dealing with resistance
Kees: “We have agreed very clearly that all steps must be done within the system. This means that, for example, photos should not be sent by e-mail to DataChecker may be sent. And so there are more agreements on very different matters: from retention periods for uploaded documents and photos to the time that DataChecker may do about a check. And from reports to the handling of employee complaints.” Do these complaints exist? “Not that much, fortunately, and less and less. There was some resistance to the new process among a number of colleagues. For example, they were afraid that it would cost them too much time if they always had to wait for DataChecker's response.”
Niet dat Adecco vooraf niets gecommuniceerd had over de verandering. “Integendeel: we hadden webinars, trainingen en platforms ingezet”, zegt Thijs. “Maar ook ná de introductie is er communicatie nodig. We besloten de weerstand te inventariseren. En brachten de rust terug – zowel door te luisteren naar gebruikerservaringen als door nog eens duidelijk te vertellen wat men wel en niet mocht verwachten van DataChecker, for example in terms of response time. As a result, employees saw that, among other things DataChecker is usually much faster than the number of hours they are allowed to complete a response. Satisfaction has been growing ever since.”
Peace of mind
“The growing satisfaction is also because people are getting used to the process,” says Kees. “Because of that habituation, the clear feedback DataChecker and increasingly better tooling, our colleagues and candidates make fewer mistakes during process steps - such as submitting a photo that is slightly too dark. They therefore have to repeat these steps less often. That saves a lot of frustration.” Employees are also happy with the results DataChecker, says Kees. “We often share that, so 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 about that DataChecker helps them avoid mistakes without putting a straightjacket on them. Moreover, they see that DataChecker has less and less to comment on. That makes them feel good. They like that they have candidates now – thanks DataChecker and despite more complex legislation – being able to serve them well and put them to work with peace of mind.” Kees therefore calls it “difficult” to find areas for improvement in the collaboration. “Bottom line, we are very satisfied.”
