How a global MNC halved BGV time with Managed Services

A global multinational company faced significant challenges in managing its BGV process and vendor ecosystem. The issues included delays in talent onboarding, difficulty coordinating with multiple vendors, and misalignment across teams. Time constraints and recurring discussions with candidates and vendors to validate credentials, along with rising discrepancies, created roadblocks that slowed hiring and extended decision-making timelines, bringing operations to a standstill. In addition, the need to engage multiple vendors, each with different procedures, further complicated the management of operations. Overall, high turnaround times and lack of coordination in pre-hiring checks delayed the deployment of chargeable projects.

The fragmented approach not only increased administrative costs but also led to concerns about potential risks, as existing background screening services could not be followed in a timely manner. The organization recognized the need for a cost-effective BGV solution capable of delivering background check reports in record time. The company’s need to reduce operational complexities, cut costs, and eliminate human errors highlighted the growing demand for managed BGV solutions and automated HR systems.

The multinational company engaged EY to implement a system to address vulnerabilities associated with manual processes while effectively reducing the background check turnaround time. The initial phase involved comprehensive discussions with HR, legal, and other departments to assess the organization’s existing employee screening process and ensure objectives and expectations were aligned.
 
In the next phase, EY collaborated with the organization to define the project scope and focused on consolidating processes, including tech-enabling HR operations, analytics, tracking, and closure. Defining a clear timeline and recognizing areas that could be standardized led to the establishment of policies, procedures, and BGV Service Level Agreements (SLAs). These were communicated within the organization and to vendors for consistency and adherence to organizational standards.

The next step was to align the organization’s processes with the vendor’s processes. EY seamlessly integrated the two, facilitating a smooth flow of documents. Additionally, dedicated employee helpdesks were set up to enhance the candidate experience and support the workforce onboarding strategy.

The adoption of Managed Services not only enabled the organization to reduce costs associated with in-house background verification automation but also freed up resources for more strategic initiatives. This approach promoted consistency in handling observations, leading to swifter decision-making. The engagement also enhanced vendor performance through better tracking and inventory management. 

Incorporating Managed Services into the organization’s existing BGV process enabled the seamless onboarding of 25,000 new employees and improved vendor management. The background check turnaround time witnessed a significant improvement, increasing from 56% to 91%, which is critical for hiring risk mitigation and accelerating onboarding. Also, 47% of background screening services were completed even before the employee joined, and another 42% were completed within 20 days from the date of joining. In addition, vendor performance, measured against SLAs, showed marked improvement—rising from 72% to 97% for one vendor and from 66% to 87% for another.

Beyond improved SLAs, EY also supported the firm in establishing a decision committee for the adjudication process, ensuring swift action on cases marked as insufficient or discrepant. Prior to the implementation of the managed BGV solutions module, flagged cases took as long as 90 to 120 days to resolve. With this new approach, 84% of the cases were cleared within 30 days, which allowed the organization to avert potential threats and achieve BGV risk reduction.
To ensure continuous improvement, the organization has established and implemented rigorous feedback mechanisms, regular reviews, monitoring activities, and hiring frameworks—resulting in a streamlined hiring process.