First Advantage, a Symphony Technology Group (STG) company and the leading global provider of screening analytics and identity solutions, today announced the release of its latest study, “First Advantage Employment Screening Trends Report: Asia Pacific, Q1 2014.”

“First Advantage Employment Screening Trends Report: Asia Pacific, Q1 2014.”

With more and more multinational companies expanding their footprints in Asia Pacific, the challenges associated with hiring the right candidate have increased. Some of the key challenges in hiring suitable candidates are continually changing regional legislation surrounding anti-corruption, data privacy and consumer protection. The regular updating of the legalities in different countries complicates the background screening process, making it extremely difficult for the employers to perform proper background checks on their candidates, which can ultimately cost businesses a significant amount of revenue.

To help multinational organizations better understand the screening trends in the APAC market, First Advantage created the report: “First Advantage Employment Screening Trends Report: Asia Pacific.” The study reveals key macro and micro trends and provides the insight for organizations to benchmark their current programs against other employers and fine-tune their existing screening practices in the region.

The report is based on data drawn from 300,000 employment background verifications and reference checks conducted by First Advantage in APAC from January to March 2014. The screening results represent a cross-section of the company’s clients located in Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. Moreover, the report results are segmented under critical discrepancy types (employment, education, financial-related, database) and examines the discrepancy breakdown by country and by industry.

Key findings from the report include:

• Close to 1 in 5 of all Asia Pacific employees have some form of background discrepancy.
• The results indicate that there is close to a 50% inflation of discrepancies in Q1 2014 from the discrepancy trend of 2013 Q1. The sizable change was due to number of checks made per case and the total number of clients that availed First Advantage’s services.
• The total number of checks done per case in the APAC region has gone up from 4 checks in Q1 2013 to 5 checks in Q1 2014. This increased number indicates that there is more awareness among companies about background screening services and the employers are also demanding better output.
• The report shows that there is an overall increase in discrepancy rates (5.8%) compared to Q1 2013. There has been no change in the types of discrepancies faced since Q1 2013, employment checks still tops the chart here.
• 18.9% of the discrepancies in the Asia-Pacific region are related to education of employees that is only a distant second to employment discrepancies that stands at 54.6%.
• Results with a discrepancy in employment history have increased by 5.6% in Q1 2014 from Q1 2013, which constitutes close to 50 percent of all discrepancies in the Asia-Pacific region.
• The study also reveals that more employers from different verticals in the Asia-Pacific region are screening their candidates. Australia and New Zealand top the list with 23.38% in Q1 2014, which is a significant increase from Q1 2013 when they stood at just 12.96%. This is followed by Singapore, which recorded 18.78% in Q1 2014.
• 26% of the employers in the Asia Pacific region are now conducting more than 6 checks and above. They are 11 times more likely to uncover a discrepancy as compared to those who conduct only two checks (3%) or five checks (9%).
• There has been a growing trend toward “infinity screening,” in which screening programs are extended to include contractors and vendors and to introduce periodic rescreening of existing employees, accounting for a drop in discrepancy rates in certain countries.

“Through this trends report, First Advantage seeks to help employers in Asia Pacific identify the current employment background verification trends and understand how they can optimize their screening programmes,” said Matthew Glasner, Managing Director of South APAC at First Advantage. “We are seeing a significant increase in discrepancies in region and this further highlights the importance of using state-of-the-art screening practices available to ensure companies know who they are hiring, thereby mitigating the business loss associated with a wrong hire.”

First Advantage is the leading provider of background screening in the world and the largest in Asia Pacific. First Advantage conducts around 23 million global background checks annually.

For a complimentary copy of the “First Advantage Employment Screening Trends Report: Asia Pacific,” please contact Chin Wei Chong at [email protected]

About First Advantage

First Advantage provides comprehensive screening, identity and information solutions that give employers and housing providers access to actionable information that results in faster, more accurate people decisions. With an advanced global technology platform and superior customer service delivered by experts who understand local markets, First Advantage helps customers around the world build fully scalable, configurable screening programs that meet their unique needs. Headquartered in Alpharetta, Ga., First Advantage has offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia. More information about First Advantage can be accessed at www.fadv.com.

About Symphony Technology Group

Symphony Technology Group (STG) is a strategic private equity firm with the mission of investing in and being a partner in building great software and services companies. In addition to capital, STG provides transformation expertise to enable its portfolio companies to deliver more value to clients to retain and attract the best talent and to achieve best-in-class business performance. All STG portfolio companies are expected to grow through innovation. STG’s current portfolio consists of 12 global companies with combined revenue of approximately $2.5 billion and thousands of employees spread across North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit www.symphonytg.com.