Pre-Employment Checks, the “2 envelope process”

A fixed-telephone operator had outsourced the HR and recruitment functions. Responsibility rested with the RPO to issue contracts, undertake all necessary checks and collate all necessary documentation such as references, criminal records checks, proof of residency and rights to work, bank details. One division required volume recruitment activity, over 1,800 personnel recruited in a six month period. The sourcing strategy involved a different model to “business as usual” and the RPO had no advance warning and were only made aware of the new recruits on the day a contract was requested, therefore no preliminary checks could be undertaken until that time. The new recruits were generally starting within a matter of days, or at most three weeks, of the request for the contract to be issued. After two weeks of training the individuals would be working on customer premises. The existing process required the issuing and return of some 14 different pieces of paper and documentation which were dispatched directly to 8 different addresses. The RPO needed to document what went out and what had been returned but the existing process meant a lack of visibility for the RPO in where the documentation might be.

A new process was designed called the “2 envelope process”. All documentation dispatched needed to be completed and returned in envelope “1” excepting the pension material which could be returned in envelope “2”. By tracking the dispatch and return of the documentation centrally, and where required forwarding on to other parties, the RPO was able to know exactly where in the process individual documentation sat and work further to address other areas of the on-boarding process where improvement could be made. The greatest improvement was the turnaround time for the Criminal Records checks. These reduced from an average of 70 days turnaround to 14 days. The success of this project resulted in many other divisions of the telecommunications company adopting the new “2 envelope” process.