Common Reasons for Employment Verification Delays

Employee verification is one of the most important practices that a company can pick up to protect itself. Hiring new staff is always a risk, and having confirmation on what a potential employee claims can save a lot of headaches. The best way to do this is through a background check or an employment verification request. The one downside to this method is the time it takes to go through the whole process. Not only is there a standard waiting period for verification, but there can also even be some delays that slow the process down. These delays can be problematic, but there are some ways you can avoid the common reasons for employment verification delays if you know what they are.

Incorrect Information

One of the most common and biggest causes for delays is incorrect information in requests. Every time someone needs to run an employee verification, they need to put in a request form with the proper information filled out about the person in question. Now, the forms are a bit complicated and require a lot of specific information, and this can cause some massive problems when it comes to employee verification. The most common problem with these forms comes from instances of incorrect information. It is all too common for someone to mistakenly enter the name of the wrong company or misspell the company’s name altogether. Another very common mistake can occur if a potential employee writes the name of the company they worked at instead of the company that hired them. This happens a lot with staffing agencies and contracting. This can cause a lot of delays, as the verification company must connect with several different companies to find the right one.

International Delays

Another common cause of delays involves the problems with international employee verification. When you start to request an employment verification, you may find that some of your potential employees have held jobs in other counties. The problem with this is that every country has its own laws about employee verification and what information you can legally request. Navigating all these unique requirements can take a lot of time and delay the final report by weeks. There is very little you can do to speed up this process, but using a third-party background check service will do all the hard work for you. Although it can be annoying, you have to run it to protect yourself from bad employees, but be aware of all the extra time that it will take.

Old Archive Systems

Another way that your verification might face some delays is if the people who need to verify the information use an old record system. When a request is made to an employment verification service, they have to start trying to collect and confirm the information of the person in question. This usually requires communication with places of past employment and places that hold other important information. Sadly, this means that collecting this information is dependent on whatever person or group the service is trying to communicate with. Oftentimes, the bigger and advanced companies comply quickly to give over the information. However, many companies and businesses are slow to respond, and they have inefficient archive systems that make it hard to prove employment quickly. It is not unusual for a place to take multiple days to gather the correct information to confirm whether someone worked there or not. Unfortunately, there isn’t much anyone can do to speed up this process once a request has been started.

Compliance

Although it may come to the surprise of many, there is no legal reason for a company to ever comply with an employee verification request. A request by the government is the only time a company must confirm the employment of an individual. Outside of that, a company only confirms a worker’s employment as a courtesy. Now, the good news is that almost every company is willing to confirm the employment of an individual. Even if the law does not require it, most companies realize it is a good practice to share that information. However, as it is more of a common courtesy rather than an obligation, companies are under no pressure to give us the information in a timely matter; in fact, it is not unusual for the company to take a while to give over the verification. This can cause a lot of unpredictable delays, as each company that a verifications service contacts can take as long as they want. It is also common for companies to require a consent form before they share this information, though there is no legal requirement for these forms. Most employment verification services will get this consent form early on, but sometimes, a company’s policy asks for written consent, which adds a lot of delays to the verification.

Miscellaneous Delays

As anyone who has to communicate with a lot of different people will tell you, things just happen when working with a large number of people. When you are working with someone to collect all this information, either they or you can have any number of small problems pop up and delay the work. Some common reasons for employment verification delays include a power outage, horrible weather, illness, missed calls, weddings, days off, and many more. When you are working with strangers, there is no guarantee that they will provide you the information you need in a timely fashion. Another common delay is the kind of information that you are looking for in the employment verification. Gathering one type of information is not the same as gathering another. Confirming a name and address is not nearly as difficult as employment dates or criminal records. As such, a common delay makes it that much harder to get information, and such instances can really slow down a report.

There are some other cases and reasons that might delay an employment verification. However, these are the most common types of delays and the reasons behind them. The best way to minimize the potential delays is to use one of the many professional background check companies which perform background checks and employment verification. These professionals know what laws to follow and can navigate systems more efficiently than a single individual.