Blue-collar workers make up a large percentage of our workforce. India has nearly 250 million blue-collar employees, working in logistics, construction, mining, manufacturing, maintenance, delivery services, ride-sharing services, etc.

Blue-collar workers are the lifeblood of our society. They are the ones who are out on the streets every day, providing us with the food we eat and the necessities we need. It is true that no economy can sustain itself without these people. There are, however, certain challenges that recruiters face during the hiring process.

One of them being background screening.

Challenges with Background Screening of Blue-Collar Workers

Background screening is a necessary process that organizations undertake to protect themselves from potential risks. The last thing any company wants is to hire someone who is going to cause them problems.

It is common for companies to conduct background screenings on blue-collar workers to reduce the risk of fraud and provide a safe work environment. However, there are many challenges that come with this screening.

Lack of Resources

The first challenge is not every company has the resources to carry out a thorough background check of blue-collar workers. For instance, a construction company that doesn’t have the system and people in place to verify the criminal record of potential hires may unwittingly end up employing people with questionable conduct in the past.

At the least, brands need background verification software and experienced personnel who can run the candidates through national criminal search, national sex offender search, identity verification check, drug screening, past employment record, educational verification, etc. All of these sub-processes add an additional burden on the shoulders of recruiters and increase the cost of hiring. Not to mention, if companies don’t already have these systems in place, it may take forever to finally make a hiring decision.

And that’s just one employee. Think about hiring 100 such blue-collar workers for a project and how much time and resources it would take to screen and recruit them. That’s the number one reason why many companies outsource their background screening responsibilities of blue-collar workers to third-party experts like V Trace.

Companies like V Trace take the time to thoroughly look into an applicant’s background. This includes taking a close look at their criminal record, education and employment history, and references. In the event that an applicant is found to be a potential risk, they will flag them.

Lack of Information

Background screening is a crucial step in the hiring process for blue-collar workers. However, this type of screening can be a challenge for companies due to the lack of information available. Sometimes, candidates share false identities or don’t even have the appropriate paperwork to show for.

Should any undesirable event occur in the future because of inadequately verified blue-collar workers, the onus is on the company. In fact, it may be held legally liable for providing an unsafe work environment. This is another reason why companies turn to outside background screening experts like V Trace.

They meticulously identify discrepancies in the candidate’s identity, criminal record, address, and police verification records to ensure that employers don’t suffer the cost of a bad hire. Research suggests that companies lose as much as 30% of the employee’s annual salary due to bad hiring.

Inherent Delays in the background screening process

Background screening of blue-collar workers is a herculean task. Many of these workers arrive from remote villages in India. The absence of a central data repository to validate the education status, employment history, financial status, criminal record, and family background makes the process even more challenging.

Not to mention, these people from different districts speak different languages and dialects. Because of these challenges, many companies are forced to cut corners on background screening to avoid delays. However, that’s not a wise choice and it only adds to the problem.

Compromising on the background screening process can expose the employer to risks such as fraud, theft, labor strike, or harm to other workers. Hence, the better choice is to collaborate with a background screening firm to save time and money in the long run. They take measures such as corroborating the candidate’s credentials with the National Database of Unorganized Workers (NDUW) launched by the Government of India in 2019.

One more important point to add is that there is a lot of turnover at these levels, so background verification is always under pressure for a quick turnaround time. Also, many times the addresses, especially of e-commerce workers or delivery boys, are in slum areas where a physical check on the address is difficult. Finding their location is difficult, and many times when our investigators reach the neighborhood, they think we are coming from some loan agency for recovery and they become aggressive and nonresponsive. Needless to say, doing digital address verification is also a big hurdle in similar situations.

Conclusion

Background screening is the process of researching an individual’s past, including criminal records and education, to predict the likelihood of future performance and conduct. In the past, background screening was mainly used for white-collar workers. With the rise of blue-collar jobs, it is now common for companies to perform pre-employment background screening on blue-collar workers.

However, there are many difficulties and challenges that come with it, such as lack of resources and expertise, added cost, lack of information, and inherent delays in the process. Partnering with a background check firm helps combat those challenges, bringing safety, efficiency, and speed to the blue-collar employee onboarding process.