Deep Dive: How Digital ID Verification Can Help Firms Streamline The Remote Hiring Process

The pandemic has heaped more than a few stresses on employers, and adding workers has emerged as an especially challenging task. Hiring has slowed across many sectors, but the need to replace departing workers or add employees amid growth remains for some industries. The pandemic continues to keep social distancing rules in place, however, which means that virtual hiring has become the new standard.

Some of the toughest tests employers face when filling positions during the pandemic are remote onboarding and training. One recent survey reported that more than 37 percent of companies that have hired staff members during the health crisis have experienced new struggles related to remote onboarding and training, and about one-third said hiring in a virtual environment has been a major issue.

The survey also revealed that lack of experience in remote hiring has been a factor not just for entry-level hiring staff and recruiters but also for veteran managers who are simply unfamiliar with conducting such processes virtually. The following Deep Dive examines the logistical challenges businesses are confronting as they work to remotely vet and hire new employees and analyzes how digital identity verification solutions can ease the task.

Remote Hiring Now And In The Future

The pandemic may be precipitating businesses’ shifts toward remote hiring and onboarding, but many expect these trends to live on long after the crisis ends. Respondents in one global survey said remote hiring is likely to continue and would remain among the biggest concerns for employers even after vaccines had been distributed and the world returned to a relative normal.

Almost 52 percent of those polled said that post-pandemic challenges would include candidate engagement, and almost half named employee onboarding as a worry. Forty-two percent stated that candidate approval would be a struggle. These concerns regarding hiring- and onboarding-related issues superseded even technology-related worries, with roughly 16 percent of respondents pointing to problems with insufficient technological access, for example.

Another study of more than 500 hiring managers found that 56 percent acquired new employees remotely for the first time since the pandemic began. Fifty-one percent said they interviewed candidates remotely, and 42 percent extended job offers in this manner. The survey illuminated some long-term hiring concerns managers expressed, including those surrounding onboarding and setting up new employees. Thirty-eight percent of respondents said they would struggle to coordinate technology onboarding and setup, for example, which would include verifying employees’ identities and keeping their personal information safe from fraud.

ID Verification In The Remote Age

Digital identity verification solutions have emerged as valuable tools for employers looking to remotely hire and onboard new workers, as they can replace cumbersome manual processes that have become less feasible during the pandemic. A recent study from employee-focused hiring and company review site Glassdoor reported that a positive onboarding experience boosts new-hire retention by 82 percent and productivity by 70 percent, but that only 12 percent of employees are satisfied with these procedures. Research has concluded that manual processing can be lengthy and requires excessive amounts of paperwork, whereas going digital offers secure and manageable ways to add staff, which can be crucial to offering the smooth experiences that new hires seek.

Identity verification is a key part of the onboarding process, as it can protect businesses and customers from identity fraud. Many companies took in-person approaches to verifying incoming employees’ identities prior to the pandemic, typically asking prospective hires to travel to offices and provide government-issued ID documents to human resources departments. The social distancing safety protocols many companies have put in place have essentially eliminated such activities, however.

Many digital identity solutions providers are offering tools that can help businesses overcome these logistical hurdles, including facial recognition and videoconferencing technologies. Palo Alto-based Jumio, for example, offers a remote user verification solution that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI), biometrics, machine learning and liveness detection to combat fraud, accelerate onboarding and ensure compliance with anti-money laundering and know your customer requirements. Other providers offer software that can allow human resources teams to scan and confirm new hires’ government-issued identity documents.

Smooth remote hiring and identity verification procedures are fast becoming par for the course during the pandemic, and all signs indicate that many of these processes will remain popular long after the crisis abates. Companies have good reason to provide trouble-free onboarding procedures that leverage digital identity solutions, as one report found that 49 percent of job candidates have rejected employment offers due to poor recruiting experiences. Frictionless, fraud-free remote hiring approaches thus require businesses to invest in digital solutions that help them offer seamless, secure ID verification.