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The state of Right-to-work checks

We ran a survey in February with members of DBR to better understand the Right-to-work process when conducted in house or with the help of a third party.

54 responses were collected, of which 44 were qualified for this survey. The qualifying question asked if the respondent was directly involved in the Right-to-work process. Our intention with the survey was to collect information with a good level of detail to clearly comprehend how Right-to-work is conducted in different companies, so it was crucial to only have respondents with first-hand experiences of the Right-to-work check.

We’ve summarised the results from this survey below.

Categorising the data into two groups

Third party
24 respondents use a third party to conduct their Right-to-work checks, meaning that they use a background check service provider to run these checks.
In-house
20 respondents perform their Right-to-work checks themselves, without a background check service provider.

The biggest problems of Right-to-work

Third party
  1. Speed (54%)
  2. Check admin (50%)
  3. Remote working (29%)
  4. Compliance (17%)
  5. Where to store documents (17%)
  6. Insufficient document (13%)
In-house
  1. Speed (60%)
  2. Remote working (45%)
  3. Check admin (30%)
  4. Insufficient document (25%)
  5. Compliance (20%)
  6. Where to store documents (10%)
Candidate response
25% of responses in the third party category and 30% in the In House category say that candidate response can cause delays in right to work.

In-house respondents mention that candidates forgetting to bring documents in person (20%) and taking time to arrange in-person checks (10%) can cause further delays.

Third party respondents (17%) vote for lack of clarity around the process for non-British candidates as a reason for delay.
Improved visibility and more automation
The majority of respondents in the third party category (38%) say that better visibility on candidate activity and check progress would improve the process.
Those who do it in-house say that more automation would help (30%).
Third party specific
What to do when a document fails
When a document fails a right to work check, the majority of respondents (46%) speak to their third party vendor to decide what to do.

25% of respondents check with their third party why the check failed and request another.

17% of respondents are unsure what to do, while the remaining 13% ask candidates to retry.
What to do after a check is complete
When a check is complete and the result is clear, the majority of respondents (58%) are 100% clear on what to do next.

4% of respondents answer it's clear less than 25% of the time, and 8% answer it's clear 50% of the time.

25% of people are clear on what to do 95% of the time.
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What does this mean?
These results suggest that when a check fails, the majority of people are unsure what to do. When they reach out to their third party vendor, they try to understand what their next step is.

However, when the check is clear and complete, people are clear on what they're supposed to do.

Level of involvement

Third party
  1. 42% of recruiters would like to be quite involved
  2. 29% of recruiters would like to be somewhat involved
  3. 21% of recruiters would like to be very involved
In-house
  1. 40% of recruiters would like to be somewhat involved
  2. 25% of recruiters would like to be quite involved
  3. 20% of recruiters would like to be very involved
Definitions
Somewhat involved: I check candidates’ status every now and again just to make sure things are going smoothly

Quite involved: I would like to be notified if I need to do something so I can chase candidates if I need to

Very involved: I would like to see every activity done by candidate (and third party checking company) so I can take action as soon as possible
Process for visa recheck
Third party
  • 29% involve manual checks involving sharecodes and visas by HR / People / Recruiters
  • 25% are either unsure or haven’t had to do this yet
  • 25% rely on third party
  • 13% set manual reminders
  • Another 13% mention in person checks
In house
  • 20% follow up with candidates to request documents
  • 15% do in-person checks
  • 15% check with government or an official organisation (home office, visa agency, government database)
  • 10% set manual reminders
  • 10% have HRIS notifications

How satisfied are recruiters with Right to Work?

Third Party
Majority (50%) are satisfied (above neutral)

29% very satisfied
21% somewhat satisfied
42% neutral
8% somewhat dissatisfied
In House
Majority (50%) are neutral

10% very satisfied
50% neutral
25% somewhat satisfied
15% somewhat dissatisfied
View the detailed report
Read through the report in more detail by clicking the link below.
Read more

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