Imagine winning a contract with Google. Yes, “the” Google.
It’s a dream for many Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) providers. One that actually came true for a call centre provider in the Philippines.
But the dream came crashing down in 2020. That’s when a few of the company’s employees were caught stealing Google gift cards valued at roughly 60 million Philippine Pesos (about US$1.1 million) and converting them into bitcoins. According to reports, the scheme was quietly executed over an extended period, but Google wasted no time cutting ties with the company when news of the illegal activity went public.
The takeaway for BPO companies? Get to know the people you’re hiring to work on behalf of other businesses. The best way to do that is by performing background checks on all employees.
Candidates aren’t always what they seem.
BPO providers need skilled workers who can advance two business directives at the same time—that of their direct employer and the business customer(s) paying for their services. The thing is, it’s easy to skip the background check when hiring these employees. If their application or CV looks good, why waste the time?
But that’s a big mistake and here’s why. Candidates can appear to be qualified, upstanding workers on the surface. However, sometimes they either lack the qualifications or have criminal histories that can put the company and its valued business customers at risk.
It is worth the effort to dig deeper and better understand the qualifications of workers, because at the end of the day, it’s not just one employer that gets duped or potentially swindled by a rogue worker. It’s multiple employers—namely, the BPO provider and its business customers.
Background checks as a best practice.
Background checks are a gamechanger for BPO employers in several important ways. For starters, they can help BPO firms avoid hiring bad actors within the industry. For example, if a BPO worker is fired due to fraud, criminal behaviour or other inappropriate conduct, they can easily apply to work at another BPO company. A background check will often reveal prior offences, enabling the next employer to make a better-informed and more risk-averse hiring decision.
They can also help in other ways by providing critical candidate due diligence to help BPO companies:
- Efficiently identify and hire skilled workers who can quickly produce positive results for the company and its business customers
- Retain top talent and reduce turnover by ensuring candidates are a “good fit” before hiring them
- Differentiate the business by promoting the extra steps it takes to employ a well-vetted, high-performing workforce
- Mitigate physical, financial, legal, and reputational risk caused by workers who are unqualified or who have a criminal history that could threaten the company and its customers
In short, BPO providers have a responsibility to screen their employees, since their actions can have a negative, ripple effect across their organization, and the businesses of their valued customers. But, it’s about much more than that. In today’s competitive marketplace, employing a fully screened and vetted workforce can distinguish a BPO provider as a high-integrity industry leader and earn them the respect—and loyal business—of top companies around the globe.
At First Advantage, we can help. To learn more about which employees should be screened within your BPO organization and how to build job-specific background packages, download our Background Screening Solutions for BPO Services tip sheet.
