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May 23 2022

How to boost HR productivity by using WorkPass for reference requests

It’s frustrating to spend HR resource on an activity that primarily benefits other companies, rather than adding value to your organisation. 

Our client, Virgin Money, receives over 1000 reference requests each year. If they didn’t use WorkPass, our market leading income and verification service, they would need 2 FTEs to manage these requests alone. 
 
Because they use WorkPass, they can focus on tasks that bring direct benefits to their leaders, colleagues, and themselves instead.
 
This is crucial right now as employees are leaving jobs and applying for new ones at an unprecedented rate. 
 
WorkPass is free to employers, easy to use, and takes no more than a couple of hours to implement. 
 
Want to stop wasting valuable HR time on reference requests that don't benefit your organisation? Read on to find out how to select an income and employment verification service you can trust. 

Income and employment verification services during The Great Resignation

The Great Resignation is the term coined in the US for the unprecedented movement of staff over the last couple of years. 
 
According to Bloomberg, 89% of UK managers said their business currently had vacancies, and 60% said finding new staff is harder now than before the pandemic. 
 
This is putting huge pressure on HR departments. Recruitment pipelines are blocked with constant delays so it takes longer to recruit, verify, and hire. At a time when they really need to focus on recruiting and retaining staff, HR teams are bombarded with reference requests from past employees.  
 
The problem is, HR teams have a legal obligation to provide this information, and they are aware their ex-colleagues often need their request to be fulfilled before an organisation will make them an offer. 
 
Plus, requests for income verification for a mortgage or rental come from existing employees who HR teams really want to take care of. 
 

Automate your reference requests and save time

WorkPass is a market-leading employment and income verification service that frees up your HR team so they can get on with the work that really needs to be done. 
 
When organisations work with us, they direct all employment reference and income verification requests to WorkPass. 
 
It takes requesters seconds to obtain an automated employment verification, whereas it can take weeks for HR departments to return completed reference request forms, particularly when the job market is so fluid.
 
No more chasing HR teams with urgent reference requests for ex-employees and leavers. No more answering enquiries from mortgage lenders, estate agencies, or landlords. Simply upload your employment records once a month and get on with something else!
 

How does WorkPass work?

It’s a simple 3-step process.
 
Step 1: Upload a copy of your employment and payroll records for past and current employees. You only need to provide information that you would include on a reference or confirmation of an employee's salary. If an employee requires bespoke wording for their reference, you can add this manually.
 
Step 2: Direct all enquiries for information about your previous employees, exit references, and salary confirmations to WorkPass.
 
Step 3: Each month after payroll, send your updated records to the system.
 

What are the benefits of an automated system for handling reference request forms?

Everyone wins with WorkPass.
 
  • Employees don’t have to wait for references/salary information. This means they can start jobs, get mortgages approved, or put tenancy agreements in place faster.
  • WorkPass clients don’t have to waste valuable HR time and effort fulfilling requests that add ZERO value to their organisation. 
  • Requesters don’t have to waste time researching where to send requests, composing and sending emails, or chasing – and chasing again.
 
Plus WorkPass is easy to use, time-efficient, and free to employers. It removes unnecessary workload from your HR team and allows them to focus on value-added tasks for your organisation. 
 

How can you be sure the system is secure?

At WorkPass, we use security software in every area of the website where we send or receive personal information. Information sent to or by us using this software is protected by encryption. In other words, we convert all the information into code which means it can't be read or altered by anyone who isn't authorised to do so.
 
Our systems are constantly being monitored and audited, both internally and by external assessors.
 
We have three relevant ISO accreditations (9001, 22301, and 27001), and Cyber Essentials Plus (CE+). We also have a fourth ISO in environmental management (14001) and the silver Investors In People award. 
 
And when it comes to data protection, we have you covered. We help employers comply through the use of consent code – a free employee account that allows individuals to request a copy of their data and track who accessed their file.
 

Case Study: Virgin Money

 
Before they used WorkPass, the HR team at Virgin Money faced a never-ending backlog of reference requests. These requests took 2 FTEs to fulfil and pulled staff away from the work that benefited the organisation. 
 
Following a rigorous selection process, the team started using WorkPass to handle all their references and income verification requests. They found the software quick and easy to use and most importantly it released their staff to focus on value-added tasks. Plus they finally had peace of mind knowing the requests were being managed efficiently.
 
“Doing the reference requests manually was a huge drain on the team and took us off more important tasks that we needed to focus on,” Aileen Boyd, Virgin Money’s Colleague Change Manager explained. “It was a sigh of relief when we started using WorkPass. We’d never think about being without it.”
 
Read the full case study here. 
 

Income and employment verification services: top takeaways

 
  • Using secure, automated software to manage your reference requests enables your HR team to focus on services that directly benefit your organisation, rather than your competitors. 
  • When selecting income and employment verification services, you need to be confident all the information you provide is secure and conforms to data protection law. 
  • WorkPass is a market-leading income and employment service that is used by leading companies such as Virgin Money, Xerox, and the AXA Group. Workpass is free for employers to use. Our clients save time and have the peace of mind to know all their reference requests are managed securely and efficiently.
 
Ready to stop wasting time on reference requests? Contact +44 (0) 1234 60 80 90.