Employee background checks and verification services

KPMG in India's Employee Screening and Verification Services

In today’s buoyant market, it may be tempting to fill positions with the first applicant who meets your job requirements. However, taking time to find the right person for the job and conducting a thorough background verification not only helps you increase productivity but also mitigates risk associated with negligent hiring in the event of underperformance, fraud or crime committed by an employee. Many employers discover rather late that due to inadequate and superficial background check process, they have hired a critical resource with significant discrepancies in their resumes like fake education degrees, fictitious experience certificates or past criminal records. Such insufficiencies can cause serious harm to the brand and reputation of an organization.

As concerns about data security gain importance, organisations are increasingly undertaking Employee background verification of their prospective employees along with background check of vendors and strategic partners. As per KPMG International’s Global profiles of the fraudster report, Indian fraudsters are younger in age with 32 per cent in the 26 to 35 age group. This also corroborates with our findings pertaining to resume frauds which indicates that a majority of resume discrepancies lie in this age group while conducting employee background verification.

KPMG in India's employee screening and verifications practice helps organisations conduct background checks of prospective/existing employees which can assist in taking the right hiring decisions. We provide a range of pre-employment background check services in a flexible, timely and cost-effective manner.

Our Services

Employee background verification

Large format background check on current and prospective employees across multiple sectors/industries.

Education verification

We help authenticate academic details like qualifications and relevant degrees/diplomas and certificates furnished by candidates, directly from their colleges or universities

Address verification

Help clients judge the authenticity of the current and permanent addresses of the candidate.

Employment verification

Our checks can help get information on the candidate’s previous employment such as, tenure of employment, last position/designation held and reason for leaving.

Workplace drug testing

A crucial check increasingly being sought by employers for employees working on sensitive and critical information and those deputed on client site(s).

Reference verification

Ascertain the candidate’s credentials, skills, strengths and weakness by a team of trained professionals speaking to both personal and professional references.

Database verification

Ascertain if the candidate has been reported on any of the global regulatory, compliance and sanctions list covering sources like OFAC-SDN, FBI, Interpol, EU, UN Sanctions, etc. to name a few.

Criminal record verification

Check for any history of crime through police stations and court of law for both criminal and civil litigation.

Dedicated background verification CoE

For employee background verification we have a dedicated background verification CoE which is our global operations and delivery hub at Pune, Maharashtra. This centralized hub is certified by The British Standards Institution on information security, Privacy information management and business continuity. The background screening CoE hosts 700+ fulltime screening professionals with an average vetting industry experience of over 15 years at managerial levels The facility follows stringent quality processes and controls while conducting background checks across global jurisdictions. There are client servicing locations in all major cities, which assures our clients of standardised quality of services. We process over 1 million employee verifications per year, spread across multiple jurisdictions, covering over 190 countries and territories through KPMG’s global network of member firms and teaming with strategic international background check partners.

Why KPMG in India

Our employee background verification processes are designed to comply with regulatory requirements of FCPA, UKBA, DPA, GDPR, etc. violations of which can otherwise cause serious repercussions for organisations. With our deep understanding and compliance with laws and regulatory framework across jurisdictions, KPMG has an advantage of keeping track of any changes in a dynamic multi-country screening process, due to our strong relationships and network of member firms.
This complex process is streamlined by our user friendly online application – K-Check - that allows clients online review of status of candidates undergoing background check, and downloading of reports thereafter. K-Check has the capability to integrate with client HRMS systems. The application also has module that can be accessed by the candidates to submit their credentials directly for employee background verification.
Our research repository has over 70,000 employers, over 3500 ambiguous employers and more than 1300 non-recognised/unaccredited and fictitious education institutes.

KPMG in India has been recognised by industry bodies and clients for our background -verification approach with a ’Forensic mind-set’. We have been recognised as the ’Best Background screening service provider’ in India and APAC at various industry forums. . KPMG in India’s Employee background verification practice is empanelled with NSR (National Skills Registry) under a NASSCOM initiative as Platinum partner and Founding Member of NAPBS (National Association of Professional Background Screeners).

Case study

Client’s challenge

Leading Information Technology (IT) client with 100,000 employee strength, high attrition and hiring across levels and geographies. More than 10,000 full-time employees were on bench, unassigned to any project for previous two to three years. At the time of on-boarding for these employees, background verification were conducted through several empanelled service providers. All these employees were cleared with a ‘green’ report stating no discrepancies or adverse findings. KPMG in India was engaged by the client to do cross-verification for these employees.

Our approach

Based on the scope customised for the client, fresh background checks were initiated. We with domain knowledge and forensic expertise, identified gaps in the existing screening processes adopted by the incumbent service providers. KPMG accessed company registries and other regulatory databases to ascertain authenticity of the declared previous employer entity.

We checked accreditation and registration status of the educational institutes to identify suspicious/ fake institutes. While background checks of education and employment were conducted in the past, the veracity of the institute/employer was never done and was not brought to the notice of the client.

How did we help our client

Within a span of four to five months we completed this project and identified more than 30 per cent cases with suspicious employers and/or educational institutes. This helped the client to identify and ascertain extent of employee related fraud and also mitigate risk of 'bad hire'.

Client re-assessed their - employee background verification process including a re-evaluation of the practices adopted by the existing service providers. We introduced a detailed step-by-step process to identify suspicious/fake organisations and educational institutes which has been adopted by the industry at large to conduct employee verification.

Verification-Services

Verification Services - Employee background screening : helping you hire the right people

Know more

India Insights

Our insights is your gateway to thought leadership and in-depth reports. Explore our curated collection of valuable content, where we delve into complex business challenges, share industry trends, and provide actionable insights.