June 7th, 2019 | Sterling

Background Checks and Company Culture – Sterling at the CIPD Festival of Work

Here at Sterling, we know that people are always a business’s most important asset, and by empowering organisations to make smarter, faster and safer hiring decisions, we can enable our clients to meet their wider business goals. We also know the huge role that background checks can play in creating the foundation of trust and safety needed for a great company culture. As a result of this, we aim to act as partners to the businesses we engage with, working hand-in-hand to inform them of the importance of employee screening and offer clarity on the uncertainty and confusion that can exists around the subject. We also offer as much information as we can to anyone involved in hiring, be it through blogs, or recent webinars, or live events.

Background checks and company culture: The Festival of Work

The next event that we’ll be attending is the CIPD Festival of Work, taking place from the 12^th-13^th of June, an exciting event where 1000s of HR, L&D professionals and business leaders will be discussing the latest trends, developments and innovations across their industries. In fact, you’ll be able to find us not only at our own stand (B100), but also hosting a featured talk at 11am on the 13^th in the HR and Technology theatre. Titled ‘Driving Culture Change through Talent & Technology: Navigating the Journey’, and hosted by Meredith Van Eeuwen, VP People & Culture and Steve Smith, Managing Director, the talk will reflect on how companies can drive culture change through talent and technology, drawing largely from our own journey. They will speak about how we underwent significant cultural change in order to transition from an environment of siloed activity to one of greater collaboration, and how this has informed the way we do business today. Steve and Meredith will also stress the importance of hiring the right people from the very off, how to build cultural fit into the recruitment process, and the way that background checks and company culture can go hand-in-hand in achieving this. If you’re attending the festival, we’d love if you could come down and see us! If you’re not already on the list, you can still sign up here.

Hiring for change

The importance of background checks in affecting company culture shouldn’t be understated. With more than a third of job seekers claiming that they would decline a job offer due to a bad cultural fit, even if the role was perfect, it’s important that businesses build this in to their hiring strategies. With this in mind, it’s crucial that the right culture is portrayed to candidates during the recruitment process. This is why, at Sterling, we place so much emphasis on acting in partnership with the companies we engage with, working in accordance with the values and culture of our clients. By using a more siloed outsourcing service, businesses inevitably run the risk of the wrong culture being portrayed to candidates and ultimately weakening the chances of attracting the people you need.

Our Stand

Finally, while some may perceive background checks as a “negative thing”, we would suggest that, on the contrary, background checks are just another opportunity to safeguard and bolster the most important asset of your business – people. As a result, we have taken a light-hearted approach to our stand at the event and will have an arcade style ‘claw crane’ game, where delegates can aim to ‘pick the right candidate’ and win prizes in the process! We’ll have members of staff there both days willing to answer all your background screening related enquires, however big or small – so feel free to come down and see us!

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