Telecom Sector Displays Highest Discrepancy Percentage Of 49.7% In Q1 Of 2021

Telecom sector displayed the highest discrepancy percentage in employee background verification in quarter ending March 2021 and hospitality sector displayed the lowest discrepancy percentage in the same period.

Discrepancy percentages across other sectors like banking, BPO, Engineering & Infra, Financial Services, FMCG, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Pharma & Retail were way above industry average in the quarter.

According to the Q 1 ‘21 Trends Report quantifying the hiring trends and qualifying the nature of discrepancy patterns in India, curated by First Advantage India, a leading background screening firm headquartered in the US, the increase in case level discrepancy percentages in the telecom sector was as high as 49.7%, with 50 out of every 100 candidates screened being discrepant. This was way above 36.6% in the previous quarter. Discrepancy percentage in the hospitality sector stood at 2.9% lower than the 3.4% in Q4’ 20.

Overall, however, discrepancy percentages were marginally higher in Q1 ‘21 at 8.7% as compared to Q4 ‘20 which was 8.6%. Out of these, highest number of discrepancies have been detected in the >=22 to 30 years age bracket candidates and more than 91% fraudulent occurrences have transpired in the 22 to 40 years age bracket in both the quarters.

“Considering the shift to a digital workplace across industries, we have observed that the organizations have successfully built new digital initiatives to continue their business uninterrupted. As companies fight for the best talent available in the marketplace, it has become a necessity for them to get the insights they need to hire people with the right skills and backgrounds,” explains Amit Singh, Head- Commercial, First Advantage India.

A study of education discrepancies shows that suspect institution forms the biggest chunk in this quarter at 50%. Fake document is at 27% and discrepancies like ‘Other False Education’ were at 23%. Other False Education include ‘Did not officially complete the course, Registration or Credential or membership expired etc.’

In the quarter ending Mar 2021, ‘Incorrect tenure’ and ‘Inflated designation’ have topped the graph at 24% under discrepancies categorized by Employment component. It is followed by ‘Exit Formalities not Completed/ Absconding’ at 14% and ‘Other False Employment’ at 12%. 

The discrepancy rate for education and address checks were the highest in the Northern Zone of India whereas the Southern zone of India displayed significantly higher discrepancy rate for employment checks.

“The COVID -19 pandemic is changing the way we approach employment background checks. To meet the hiring needs, companies transferred the verification process from standard to digital mode of verification for address and employment checks respectively. We at First Advantage are therefore carrying out alternate methods of verification too by using automated solution and advanced GPS technology to match the geographical coordinates of the address provided by the candidate with the coordinates captured via the mobile device from where the candidate is physically present” adds Amit Singh.

8 out of every 100 Employment verification were conducted through alternate modes of verification, he explains.