May

Global research by international recruitment firm Robert Half has found that business leaders expect to achieve a 66:34 split between permanent and temporary workers by 2023.

The research also found that 97% of business leaders identified benefits of adopting a more flexible approach to recruitment in the years to come, including more control over staffing and recruitment costs (36%), support for long-term absences, such as parental leave, sick leave (34%), and better management of workload fluctuations (32%).

Robert Half added that the rise of platforms such as Freelancer and Airtasker in sourcing temporary resources in the professional gig economy has made it easier to find the talent that businesses need, with 94% of global business leaders currently sourcing contract workers from online job platforms.
 

AggregateIQ has been accused of violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by using personal data of United Kingdom individuals to target them with political advertising messages on social media.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has ordered the company to erase any personal data that is retained on its servers.

Meanwhile, in France, La Commission Nationale de L’Informatique et des Libertes (CNIL) found that a mobile ad network illegally obtained the consent of more than 67 million people. The company was ordered to change its consent practice and purge all data collected. In other cases, fines ranging from 4,300€ to 400,000€ are being slapped on companies in violation of the GDPR. It is obvious that European Union regulators are wasting no time taking enforcement action and fining entities for violations.

Today Verifile is 15 years old! Technically this makes us part of generation Z, and our star sign is Taurus!

On our birth date, the US president was George W. Bush (Republican), and the UK Prime Minister was Tony Blair (Labour). Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, was one of the most viewed movies released in 2004.  Britney Spears topped the charts with ‘Toxic.’

In the last 15 years we have changed a lot and so has the business environment we operate in. Social media and the mobile internet are now part of our lives in ways we could not have imagined in 2004 when 3G had just been launched, and clamshell flip phones were all the rage.  Similarly, technology has facilitated the rise of self-employment, and the sharing economy has pushed the modern workforce to become much more flexible. This trend is still on the increase, challenging business models as well as people management. 

Technology plays a more prominent role than ever before, and for us, technology has massively transformed our business and how clients interact with us. It is fair to say that when we started, we had a manual service powered by technology, and today we are a technology business run by people. Keeping the human aspect is very important for us despite taking advantage of what technology allows us to automate and do which a decade ago was not possible.

All these and more have changed the way we do business and the way our clients use background screening in their recruitment process. The adoption of background screening among employers has accelerated considerably. Employers no longer focus on the return on investment, but how quickly can it be done and how the candidate experience can be enhanced.

Our journey started with just our founder, Eyal Ben Cohen, and a desk at Cranfield University Business Incubation Centre (CUBIC).  Now Verifile employs over 118 people who reside in two large buildings at Bedford’s Priory Business Park. 

Verifile was created after Eyal won a couple of awards for his business plan, but since then we were recognised multiple times including our recent wins of the ‘Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade’ and two SME Awards for ‘Best Enterprising Business’ and ‘Bedford Business of the Year.’

Working closely with our clients, you could argue that we’re one of the most over-accredited businesses you’ll come across. While there is no obligation to meet regulatory requirements (as there are currently none in the background screening industry), we have a desire to do the right thing. This is why we have chased certifications and accreditations such as three ISO certifications, NSI Gold, Cyber Essentials Plus, and Investors in People. 

We love our clients, and in fact, our very first client is still with us, receiving the same attention and level of service they had at the start, even though nowadays we serve thousands of clients worldwide.

The last 15 years were incredible, and we cannot wait to see what the next 15 years hold for us and our clients, partners and colleagues!

As we celebrate our birthday, we are focusing on what we can give to others. Our chosen charity of the year is Cancer Research. A number of our colleagues and their family have battled cancer in recent years, and so this cause is very close to our hearts.   If you would like to donate to this wonderful cause, please click on the logo below to donate: