About...
Darlington Building Society has been working with their local community for almost 170 years to help members save for the future and realise their dream of owning their own home. Offering savings accounts and mortgages, they’re committed to constantly re-investing in the community around them.
per employee
not weeks
Darlington Building Society
Background check experience
Small team, big regulatory requirements — and a background checking provider that wasn’t cutting it. Sound familiar?
That’s the challenge the team at Darlington Building Society was facing in 2023. From SMCR compliance to regular-rechecks for the entire company, they were responsible for ensuring compliance with all FCA regulations.
But their old provider didn’t offer clear guidance on what documents were acceptable, took at least four weeks (usually longer) to return checks, and didn’t update the team on progress — good or bad. References were sent as manual emails and took an especially long time, if they came back at all.
They could never be sure of employee start dates, and were always concerned about what would slip through the cracks. “We need to make sure that the person we’re bringing in doesn’t have anything that would be a concern,” said Meg, so due diligence was key.
If candidates needed support, all their questions went through the small team at Darlington. When the team reached out to their incumbent provider, it took too long to get a response — in one case, as long as 13 weeks.
“It didn’t feel like we were a priority at all,” said Meg. The support team meant to help them was so large that they often got conflicting answers and no clear direction.
Once employees were hired, the trouble wasn’t over. With SMCR re-checks yearly and all employees being re-checked every five years, Meg and the team spent months on prep work: collecting documents, hand-signing them, and scanning them into the system.
It was all too much. As Talent Partner, Meg was responsible for everything from recruitment and onboarding to talent retention, employee engagement, and benefits. With only one other team member, their time was a precious resource that couldn't be wasted.
When looking for a new solution, Darlington Building Society went through a tender process. They found that while a lot of providers did some of what they needed, only Zinc checked every box.
Efficiency for their team was a priority, as was a great candidate experience. With Zinc, they didn’t need to do any heavy lifting to order checks. It was as easy as putting in the candidate’s details, getting sign-off from the hiring manager, and sending the right check package.
Plus, Zinc’s direct HMRC integration revolutionised the way they confirmed employment dates and, in some cases, eliminated the need for manual referencing.
As soon as the team was up and running on the platform, they saw a difference.
Results
“I can’t tell you how much Zinc has changed the way we work as an organisation,” said Meg.
Her advice to anyone considering Zinc? “Just try it, and see the difference.”
Greater security and support
Today, the team at Darlington trust the results they’re getting back, and the expertise of the Zinc team.
Meg particularly highlighted social media checks, where Zinc’s thorough reports offer a stark contrast with the surface-level results from their old provider. “I feel we’re a lot more compliant,” said Meg. “The level of confidence in the checks we’re getting back has massively increased.”
When they do need support, getting in touch with Zinc feels like a personal experience. “The team is knowledgeable every time I speak to them. And if they’re not, they’ll do everything in their power to find somebody who can help,” said Meg. Rather than getting passed around by administrators in a call centre who don’t have the right background knowledge, Zinc’s team can confidently advise her about regulations, ensuring Darlington stays compliant.
Better candidate experience
Zinc empowers candidates to understand what’s going on and do it themselves, easily. Instead of putting the burden on HR, candidates submit everything in one place and stay updated on the results. Or as Meg described it: “They can sit down, have a cuppa, and do it in ten minutes.”
If candidates do have questions, they’ll get a response in under two minutes from a chatbot. Since implementing Zinc, they’ve seen great feedback from candidates who loved how smooth the entire process is.
Without having to spend time manually submitting documents and fielding candidate q’s, the team was able to tackle their entire onboarding journey from start to finish. “It helped us to be able to shift our focus on changing the way we work internally, and change the onboarding process,” said Meg. “It’s a lot slicker now.”
Less admin, faster results
Today, Meg can count on a two-week check turnaround time for most employees. She’s not stuck chasing manual references or left in the dark about progress.
“The backup of having the HMRC check is brilliant,” said Meg. “Before we’d have to get the candidate to download it themselves and send it back to us. It’s much, much easier now.”
Re-checks used to be a massive project, and now they’re a quick bit of admin that easily fits around other priorities. What took an entire day now takes less than an hour: Meg and her colleagues spend just a couple hours a week working through the backlog, and the entire re-checking process is done within the first few months of the year.
Meg says using Zinc has saved them both money and time. “When you operate the way we do, like a charity, every penny counts — whether we can put more into a community scheme or take on another hire.”
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