Industry Research Summary: The State of Identity Verification

Deter and detect identity fraud to gain greater confidence in employee data

In today’s society, identity theft has become all too common. As a result, a job candidate might have successfully passed through all the steps in the hiring process and still leave HR with one key unanswered question: are they really who they say they are?
 
To address this uncomfortable question, many organizations adopt candidate identity verification processes. But how is this done, and how effective are these processes? 

To answer these and related questions, the HR Research Institute conducted a study of HR professionals in partnership with Sterling, an industry-leading background and identity services organization.

Following are the key findings from the research:

More than half of HR professionals say their organization verifies candidate identity prior to any government-mandated process. However, a third or more of organizations do not. Among those that say their organization verifies identities prior to a government-mandate process, most say they do so as part of a background check.

Almost one in five organizations have experienced instances of employee or candidate identity fraud. Only about one-third of organizations say their existing identity verification process is excellent. Only one in five organizations strongly agree that all employee information on file is accurate. 

Almost half of HR professionals expect automated ID document authentication will become part of their candidate identity verification process in the future. Nearly three-quarters (72%) would consider including identity verification as part of their screening flow if a simple and inexpensive solution were available.

Almost half of HR professionals (45%) cite technologies that make it easier to fake an identity as a reason why identity verification is becoming more important.

Four other issues are cited by at least 30% of HR professionals. Two of those issues are relatively straightforward: data entry errors and data that is incorrect or out-of-date. The other two issues of concern are more sinister: rising cases of identity theft and hacker data breaches that have given others access to confidential information.
 

 

To learn more about the survey on The State of Identity Verification 2020 and to get 9 key insights and strategic takeaways, we invite you to read the complete report here: