Professional Documents
Culture Documents
SOLUTIONS
BY
TRIPTI GHOSH
PM & HR
Sr.No
1.
Subject
Certificate
Page No.
2
2.
Acknowledgement
3.
Executive Summary
4.
Cognizant at a glance
4.1 Passion with focus
4.2 The best of both the worlds
4.3 Key ingredients of success
4.4 Commitment to excellence
4.5 Management and governance
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2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
4. COGNIZANT AT A GLANCE
1994: Incubated as the technology arm of The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation.
1996: Started looking at third-party clients and began servicing the best across
industry segments.
1998: Became the first IT company leveraging India to get listed on NASDAQ.
2002: Became the first company to be assessed enterprise-wide against mature
industry process certifications such as P-CMM level 5, BS 7799, SEI-CMMi Level
5.
2004: Acknowledged as a leading provider of IT services by industry analysts such
as Gartner, Forrester, AMR and IDC.
2004: Added to the prestigious NASDAQ 100 Index among companies that defined
newer business paradigms
2006: Became the fastest IT Services company globally to clock a $1 billion run
rate in nearly 12 years.
Cognizant will achieve this by focusing on the intersection of their clients' emerging
needs and the acceleration of business and technological change. Their
commitment to innovation keeps them focused on the future and being ready at
every level to service change.
More than 29,000 people working together to serve their clients.
Cognizant has the passion for:
4.1.1 A Passion for Strategic Partnership
As their clients increasingly recognize the business value of the Global Delivery
model, they are taking a more strategic approach to outsourcing. They are evolving
from a tactical focus to the power of a more strategic partnership.
What makes an ideal strategic partner? It begins with leadership and always
results in delivering the highest quality work. Cognizant understands the key
components of partnership: from sufficient scale and a strong financial profile to
technology leadership and strong client management by the best teams.
While the early days of outsourcing were about performing functional tasks more
cost-effectively and productively, the future is about partnering on a global scale to
meet strategic goals and win market share.
The future is about partnerships and they have been defining that future with their
clients.
4.1.2 A Passion for Specialized Expertise
To meet the specialized needs of these industries, Cognizant has continued to
invest in deepening their vertical organization. Cognizant has added team
members with distinguished track records in key sectors, who can serve as subject
matter experts to provide clients with valid insights and viable solutions into
particular industry issues. And, Cognizant has focused on developing
competencies in the service areas that will be essential to each industry, be it
supporting clinical trials for pharmaceutical companies, or integrating point-of-sale
systems in retail.
Their team members have distinguished track records in every industry that it
serves.
or development projects that were already highly defined. However, the potential
for labor savings was limited because of the need to import talent.
2nd Generation: This was the pure "Offshore Production" phase where secondgeneration offshore outsourcers established small regional marketing offices near
major clients, while sending work offshore. Although more cost-effective than 1st
generation offshore, this approach was suitable for less complex engagements
with well defined functional specifications that did not require extensive project
management.
3rd Generation: The "Onsite/Offshore" model emerged, adding local project
management and liaison staff to improve day-to-day coordination and problem
resolution with projects sent offshore. With onsite project management, projects of
slightly more complexity that required frequent change could be handled.
4th Generation: The "Seamless Integration" phase, 4th Generation Offshore
Outsourcing provides the best of both worlds: the low-cost of offshore development
coupled with critical management presence. This allows our clients to interact with
us on a regular basis, forming meaningful partnerships. The client is free to focus
on the business, while Cognizant focus on the technologies necessary to support
it. This approach to outsourcing is suitable for projects of high complexity and
large-scale transformational outsourcing. The 4th generation offshore outsourcing
provider is the ideal partner for helping enterprises undergo profound business
transformation.
They are a pioneer in Offshore Outsourcing. They bring their clients the economic
advantages, with the industry experience and the local expertise.
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Cognizant has a blue chip client base with many industry leaders that they
are proud to partner with and to contribute to the growth of their businesses.
Their clients go to extensive lengths to serve as references and champions
of their growth and innovation.
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They track the progress of projects and programs with eCockpit, their proprietary
engagement management tool that is available to all of their clients. eCockpit
provides a graphic representation of project-related status, such as productivity,
effort, cash flow, and defects density. It also looks at personal metrics such as
targets and individual progress.
eCockpit benefits include:
Analysis. Conduct effective business analysis and decision making through
targeted reports.
Standardization. Set uniform standards across an organization and build a
repository of information for estimation and project monitoring.
Action. Understand project status and progress so you can easily make
decisions and take action.
Continuous improvement. Identify strengths and potential areas of
improvement.
Comparisons. Look at performance comparisons against set benchmarks to
predict a future course of action.
Indicators. Set indicators to warn when metrics are non-conformant with
established benchmarks.
Quality. Track project quality and trace deviations as well as to assess
continuous project improvements.
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PMO
The Program Management Office (PMO) is a strategic management structure
designed to reduce the risk of project failure and ensure successful project
deliverables. A PMO can deliver high value by integrating project management
objectives with the business drivers of an enterprise. PMO can also help balance
the project stakeholders' interest in the projects.
The Cognizant PMO draws on the Networked Knowledge Assets of the
Competency groups at Cognizant. Their PMO keeps abreast of the latest
technology choices and emulates the best practices demonstrated in all of
Cognizant projects.
Cognizant focuses on delivering true business value to their clients and going
beyond simply executing projects within boundaries of time, scope, cost and
quality.
PMI
Savvy clients demand more, better and faster services. Time-to-market pressures
force greater efficiency and professional project management skills play a key role
in today's competitive, global business arena. The Project Management Institute
(PMI) is the organization of choice for project management certification and is the
leading nonprofit professional association in the area of Project Management.
Cognizant encourages its associates and managers to earn a PMI certification and
assists them in this goal through the Cognizant Academy.
Their heritage is in development. Their drive is to deliver.
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Training Methodology
Cognizant uses conventional and leading-edge learning methodologies. In addition
to the formal learning in classrooms, Cognizant Academy takes learning to their
employees' desktops. They use multi-mode learning, as well as Technology-Based
Training (TBT) material.
They encourage their associates to get certified across key technologies. They
provide assistance through formal training and mentoring, and access to all
certification material through their dedicated Learning Server. More than 1500 of
their employees have formal external certification across technologies, including:
Microsoft
Oracle
Lotus
Sun
Cisco, Novell network management
Project Management Institute
Quality Assurance Institute
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With more than 29,000 employees and growing, Cognizant serves its clients with
the breadth and depth of capabilities to deliver on the most complex business
challenges. Their combination of vertical industry expertise and technology
innovation brings their clients the insight to move forward strategically and the
experience to move quickly. Some of our clients list in different sectors involve:
Wells Fargo
Rabobank
Lehman Brothers
Chicago Board Options Exchange
Automatic Data Processing
Citi Group
CompuCredit
Union Bank of California
Healthcare:
Aetna Inc
AMERIGROUP Corporation
Blue Cross Blue Shield Florida
Blue Cross Blue Shield MA
Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan
Blue Cross Blue Shield Premera
Blue Cross Blue Shield Regence
Blue Cross Blue Shield Association
Blue Cross of N/E Pennsylvania
Blue Shield of California
Boston Medical Center HealthNet Plan
CareGain, Inc.
Central Benefits
Fidelis Care
HealthNet
Healthnow Newyork Inc
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield
Intermountain Health Care
Intervalley Health Plan
John Deere Healthcare Inc.
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Molina Healthcare
Multiplan, Inc
Network Health
PacifiCare Health Systems, Inc
Rocky Mountain
TMG Health
Trizetto Group
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ESB Retail
Insurance:
MetLife
CSAA (AAA affiliate in Northern California)
Farmers
Royal & Sun Alliance
Liberty Regional Agency Markets
Mercury
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4.5.4 Services
From the depth of Cognizants domain expertise and the proprietary intellectual
property to their onsite/offshore delivery model, their work is not finished until
there's a solution that meets the challenge.
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Cognizant is the Top IT Services Company in the Forbes 200 Best Small
Companies List
Cognizant founders chosen for "Entrepreneur of the Year" award
Cognizant Selected as the 'Best U.S. Company in India' by Indo-American
Chamber of Commerce
Cognizant is Top U.S. Outsourcing Firm on Business 2.0 Magazine's Annual "B2
100" Ranking of The Fastest-Growing Technology Companies
Cognizant named best small company in America
Forbes, October 2004
Cognizant is Top Tech Firm in Business Week's List of "Hot Growth Companies"
Top IT Services Company in 25 fastest-growing tech companies 2003
Forbes, April 2003
Cognizant is the Top Tech Company in the Forbes 200 Best Small Companies List
Cognizant Technology Solutions named one of "Americas Fastest Growing
Companies"
Individual Investor, November 1999
Cognizant Technology Solutions is named the "Public Company of the Year"
New Jersey Technology Council, 1999
Cognizant Technology Solutions is named one of the top 25 technology IPOs of
1998
Red Herring, July 1999
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Senior Manager
(14 + years)
Manager
(10 + years)
Assistant Project Manager
(7 + years)
Senior Associate
(6 + years)
Associate
(3 + years)
Programmer Analyst
(2 + years)
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V.P (GRMG)
DIRECTOR (GRMG)
MANAGER (GRMG)
SENIOR EXECUTIVE
(GRMG)
JUNIOR EXECUTIVE
(GRG)
JUNIOR EXECUTIVE
(GRMG)
TRAINEE (GRG)
TRAINEE (GRMG)
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Operational:
Manage team and/or execute recruiting plan and meet recruiting targets.
Maintain database of internal resources and allocate them appropriately to meet
the skill demands.
Allocate targets and resources to meet them.
Take daily updates from the recruiters on the status of their respective pipeline
movement
Report on status, effectiveness and quality of recruiting efforts, team member
productivity/activity and issues and recommend action.
Provide external market place intelligence and trend analysis to GRMG leadership.
Handle issues like level mismatches and delivering training to recruiters
Policies for weekend recruiting event and final interviews
Interviewer empanelment process
Interviewer training
Supervision:
Manage a small to medium team of recruiters who are responsible for all activities
related to management of the CV pipeline.
Facilitate teamwork, identify issues affecting team progress and recommend
solutions, coordinate workload and establish priorities.
Coach the team on the relationship and communication with their stakeholders to
understand resource plan and specific needs.
Select recruiters.
Cooperation and communication:
Develop communication strategies for educating stake holders and other recruiting
professionals on pipeline management directives.
Act as interface between the recruiting team, management and project managers.
Provide regular status updates
Cooperate and share knowledge with other pipeline managers.
Knowledge and Skill Requirements:
Strong understanding of the companys business needs and organizational
structure
Strong understanding of companys position in the market place
Strong knowledge of sourcing strategies and channels
Strong understanding of and expertise in analyzing external marketplace trends
Strong understanding of recruiting and sourcing market industry skills.
Strong understanding of recruiting and sourcing processes and organization,
processes, systems and tools
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31
32
One
ABC
XYZ
Offshore
SA
Pune
X
8/2/2006
Yes
6-7 years of experience
Oracle,Pl/SQL ,MDX,MS OLAP,good
communication skills
043176
GRMG checks from amongst idle resources and allocate the same to meet the
requirement. In case that no resource matches the profile required, a recruitment
request in turn raised to the GRG.
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GRG runs the profile through the existing database of skill profiles to close the
demand. The various channels available to build the database are:
Employee referral
Walk ins
Resumes received in response to advertisements.
Resumes posted through CTS website.
Job Portals
In case the resource requirement is of urgent nature or is in large volumes, the
consultants are contacted to furnish resumes to close the demand.
The resumes are then screened to shortlist those that meet the skill profile and
telephonic interviews are conducted. If the candidate is found suitable after this
round; an appointment is fixed for a face to-face technical interview. The number
of technical interviews varies from case to case.
On clearing the technical interview, the candidates HR interview is taken to
resolve fitment issues. Various forma and documents are filled and submitted by
the candidate if found suitable after the HR interview. Subsequently, an offer is
made, negotiations performed and consensus reached.
Upon acceptance of the offer, a joining date is confirmed and the candidate is
considered an offer accept. In case the candidate does not join though he/she had
accepted the offer and a joining date had been confirmed upon, he /she is
considered an offer renege.
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Check availability
of resource
internally
Check availability
of CVs in internal
job site & job
portals
Contact consultants
Screen the CV
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1.
Is the Resume
Screening clear?
Reject
Is telephonic
interview
clear?
Reject
Is technical
interview
clear?
Reject
Conduct HR interview
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Is HR
interview
clear?
Reject
Has the
candidate
accepted the
offer?
Offer reject
37
Report
Positive?
Offer revoked
Has the
candidate
joined?
Offer Reneged
Candidate is confirmed
STOP
1.
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About one in five resumes contain discrepancies. This could often be minor such
as non-explanation of a few months' gap between various items in the resume. But
it may also contain false claims relating to the study/completion of courses or work
experience in companies or projects.
While security, detective agencies and a couple of audit firms have done
background screening earlier, a few multinational firms, specializing in this
field, such as Quest Research and Hill & Associates, have now begun to
consolidate their presence.
And the business has been good for them. Quest Research seems to have grown
five-fold over the last year. Yogesh Bhura, Managing Director, South Asia, Quest
Research Ltd, says, "We are doing in excess of 15,000 background checks a
month now."
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Vivek Aggarwal, Senior Manager, Marketing and Corporate Strategy, Hill &
Associates, says they are now doing about 1,200 checks a month compared to
700 checks a month last year.
These checks can cost companies anything from $80 dollars to $300 per person
(Rs 3,487 to Rs 13,078).
When asked about the problem, Yogesh Bhura, MD, FAQR told ET: Potential
recruits are fudging past employment and education credentials. Usually, fakes
look better than the original. Companies want us to check that the people hired
have the qualifications they claim. Throwing light on the issue of fake CVs,
Achuthan Nair, V-P, strategic sourcing, Wipro Technologies, said: There are
certain organisations which see demand for candidates in specific sectors, and
play consultants to them, often fudging their CVs to make a quick buck.
Seeing the boom in recruitment, over 1,500 HR vendors have sprung up across
the metros in past couple of years.
Initially, it was other multinational companies that provided business to these
companies. Now, local companies are also opting for background checks on
employees, both existing and potential.
The background screening industry received a fillip in the aftermath of the
September 11 WTC attacks in the US. Many companies, especially those in the
information technology and financial services sector, began to opt for such
practices, as part of the security requirements laid down by clients overseas.
Bhura says, "More and more professionally managed companies are initiating
background screening practices. It is business logic which is driving the
growth of the industry and not legal requirements, as was the case earlier."
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Indian companies benefiting from the off shoring wave are doing a bit of sleuthing.
They are making sure their US clients' data is safe by screening potential
employees.
As US companies send more business to Indian companies here, a
significant chunk of data that is critical in nature is getting offloaded here for
processing.
The responsibility of making sure that this data is not misused lies with the
Indian companies or the vendors in this instance. In the absence of proper dataprotection laws, these vendors have started taking steps to prevent leaks in
manpower-related security.
As a first step, companies have begun background checks on their potential
employees. Employee screening, considered critical in emerging markets due to
lack of criminal databases, involves hiring an external agency to conduct personal
and background checks.
As the industry witnesses a significant churn in employees because of high attrition
rates, screening the background of potential employees becomes imperative
considering the fact that quite a chunk of potential employees lie about their
education, experience, and so on to gain jobs.
A study of 3,000 screenings by risk management consultancy firm Hill &
Associates (India) Pvt Ltd has revealed that 30 per cent of the candidates had
falsified their resumes.
Pre-employment screening has started gaining ground with Indian vendors too,
says Ashish Sonal, country manager, Hill & Associates. "At present, about 30 per
cent of the requests we receive for pre-employment screening are from Indian
firms," says Sonal. Global firms that carry out pre-employment screening and that
have been operating in India include Kroll, ChoicePoint and Intelysis.
Indian firms such as Globe Detective Agency also carry out pre-employment
screening. The monthly volumes of all the players operating in the pre-employment
screening could be in the range of 8,000-10,000 screenings,
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The complaint was lodged by the HSBC shared services centreHSBC Electronic
Data Processing India (HDPI), against its employee Nadeem Kashmiri with the
Cyber Crime Police Station in Bangalore on June 22.
The company has alleged that Nadeem has accessed personal information;
security information and debit card information of some of its customers in the UK
and has passed it to co-fraudsters, for conducting fraudulent transactions
through ATM, debit cards and telephone banking services at the behest of
Nadeem.
The fraud came to light after 20-plus UK customers of HSBC realized that money
was suddenly missing from their accounts and subsequently lodged a complaint
with the bank stating that funds were transferred without their knowledge,
between March and May this year and that they did not know, who transferred the
monies.
In the first information report (FIR), HDPI has stated that the bank conducted an
internal investigation and found Nadeem to be the main culprit. He has accessed
the customers account without any business requirement and changed the
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personal information, security information and debit card information. He did not
log his access on the front end of the business application, as is the mandatory
procedure, the FIR stated.
The backend system logs indicated that Nadeem accessed the information. Later,
his accomplices called and cleared the procedural security requirement and
requested him for the balance information and conducted the fraudulent
transaction. Nadeem facilitated his accomplices to impersonate the actual
customers to enable them to cheat the HDPI and HSBC customers, the FIR
stated.
In the process of investigation, the HSBC also found that Nadeem joined
HDPI on December 12, 2005 using false records and misrepresentation.
He omitted to mention his employment with Accenture and provided false
references for conducting reference checks.
The bank has alleged that Nadeem joined HSBC with the intention to deceive and
cheat the bank and its customers. He accessed customers accounts without
authorization from the day he was deputed on the processing floor, on February 6.
Last year in April five employees of Msource, the BPO arm of MphasiS BFL
(now acquired by EDS) were arrested for allegedly pulling off a fraud worth nearly
$425,000 from the Citibank accounts of four New York based account holders. The
case is under investigation.
A couple of months later, the Sun tabloid in a sting operation purchased the
bank account details of 1,000 Britons for about $5.50 each from one Karan
Bahree, an employee of Gurgaon-based BPO company Infinity E-Search, who
allegedly sold the information to an undercover reporter. The case was registered
in London.
The reason for such lacunae in the system is the fact that BPO firms are
feverishly recruiting and there is not enough time for inadequate employee
verification.
According to a verification company, an interview for a candidate lasts an average
of about 5 minutes. How well can you verify that candidate in that time frame? It is
critical to get a proper verification of candidates education, employment and other
details done but most companies are willing to let that pass because it costs
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about $ 200 per employee and they are not willing to foot that says a CEO of a
verification firm.
In the HSBC case, the employee had furnished false information about
himself. As per the police complaint, he had not mentioned his previous
employment with Accenture and had provided false references for
conducting reference checks. But HSBC appears to have overlooked all of
this.
After the MSource fraud, employee verification has become a serious issue and
companies have put in place stringent rules for security and employees providing
false information have been fired in some BPOs, said Nasscom president Kiran
Karnik.
Wipro found to its horror, that in some cases, employees had shown in their work
experience records, having worked for companies that did not even exist.
Vice President, Strategic Sourcing, Wipro Technologies, Achuthan Nair had never
expected a routine internal audit to turn this ugly. The human resources, HR
department at Wipro was checking its CVs of employees. Suddenly, Nair noticed a
pattern among the CVs.The language and the kind of education backgrounds they
had, their work experience and even the companies where they had worked everything was similar.
So much so, that even the spelling mistakes in many resumes were the same. It
was enough to make Nair suspicious and he dug deeper. The trail led him to over
30 placement agencies from whom Wipro had hired some of its employees.
Further investigations revealed the entire plot. The organisations from where these
employees had claimed to have worked for two years did not even exist. What's
more, Wipro had been relying on these very agencies for its pre-employment
background checks. The placement agencies had created these fake software
firms, which existed only on paper. And for a price, they were accredit ting the work
experiences of the employees.
Valencio more than met the requirements for the job of vice-president
(marketing) of a multinational IT company in Hyderabad. His resume boasted
many years of experience with some of the best companies and an excellent track
record. His overwhelming presentation and communication skills, and the
companys urgency to get him on board, landed him the coveted position.
Ten days into the job, Valencio disappeared. And with him confidential information
of the company. The company soon realized that every information he provided
was fake. His name, address and contact numbers. It was concluded that Valencio
was a corporate spy from a rival company.
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Shrinivas Sastri of Covansys India got the shock of his life when Wipro sent him
a copy of a letter submitted by a candidate claiming to have worked at Covansys.
Said Sastri, "The forgery had been committed with elan. I could not believe
someone could imitate my signature so well."
Sastri cited an instance when a candidate applying for a job at Covansys falsely
claimed that he had worked with a Mumbai-based BPO. "Operational pressures
forced us to hire him immediately but a few weeks later we found that he had faked
his experience. I checked with the Mumbai company only to find that such a
person had never been on their pay rolls," he said. "When I asked the candidate to
leave, he had the gall to make me a counter offer saying we could demote him to a
lower level and salary scale but let him continue at the organisation."
The cost of a bad hire far exceeds the amount of money you pay to conduct a
background check. Most companies apply this business logic. The size of the
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market in Asia is $6 million and projections show it will grow to $10-15 million in the
next two years.
On an average, depending upon each companys recruitment practices, 10-20 per
cent discrepancy is found in the claims made by applicants and our findings. The
disparity could range from overstating qualifications, salary and designation to
presenting fake certificates and giving false references.In some cases, one even
finds a complete fudging of the CV and the names of universities and companies
that do not exist.
The screening industry in India is at a nascent stage, but with 100 per cent growth
estimates in the next couple of years, a background check could well be the norm
rather than the exception. More and more companies are now recognizing the high
dividends of going through a stringent screening procedure. "We deal with
international customers and data security issues are of utmost importance to us.
We take no chances and outsource pre-employment screening for everyone at all
levels," said Milind Jadhav, vice-president (Human Resources) of Patni Computer
Systems. "It has paid off. Many cases where serious attempts to hide
information and people misrepresenting their employment or academic
history have come to light.
The level of screening a few years ago was limited to report-writing and internal
HR policies were not comprehensive enough for a sound background check. Even
today, many companies limit screening to a phone call. Also, the time, effort and
overhead costs involved in creating a separate team for background checks
seemed unaffordable. But once the companies started conducting the screening, it
was an eye-opener. The levels of falsifications by job applicants in the industry are
alarming."
KPMG released its India Fraud Survey Report 2006, that had covered over a
thousand organizations across India. The findings of the KPMG report and the
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Wipro incident confirmed the reality on ground zero. Scrutiny revealed that close to
24% of CVs comprised forged documents, outright lies about previous employment
and incomplete degrees.
KPMG survey found the IT, financial entertainment and telecom sectors face the
highest risk and as is the case with Wipro, the largest exposure to fraud was from
their own employees. In 13% of the cases observed, the fraud risk was because no
background checks had been conducted on the employees.
Anil Roy has spent over thirteen years as an expert in fraud management and
forensics. He says only 20% of the industry is doing proper background
checks. Practice director, forensic services, Grant Thornton, Anil Roy says, "The
top firms are doing their checks but fly-by-night ones are cutting costs. They open
up 'mom and pop' shops and then work on background checks using a team of two
people. How can it be possible, that two people are doing background checks for
two hundred employees? These agencies performing checks for low costs, do not
do due diligence."
But the past has a way of catching up with people - criminal pasts, forged
documents, loan defaults - all skeletons come tumbling out of the closet, as
background check agencies investigate employees' pasts.
While requests for background checks are still trickling in, corporates need to
realize the danger of having within the system, someone who's very fundamentals
are forged. Today, the industry should realize the threats of hiring people with a
criminal past.
A national database of BPO employees launched by Nasscom and
depository NSDL. An employee would have to add himself to the database
after a mandatory background check organized by NSDL. He would then
have to reveal his records to every new employer. The success of the database
depended on participation, which is something that has not yet happened.
There will actually be two parallel lines for employing people for the industry. One
from the database and one from the open market. Those people, who are fudging
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their databases will go to the organisations who are not making it mandatory for
people to become a part of this database. So there will still be fake CVs floating
around.
Sources in the industry reveal that, many software firms are silently firing
employees with problem CVs and yet Wipro and IBM are one of the few
organizations that have taken the first step to bring an end to this racket. But
what's to stop employees from the rest of the organisations, who have been fired
from quietly slipping into their next job?
Corporate India will need to nip what seems to have already become a problem
that is fast spiraling out of control. Otherwise, industries that are heavily dependant
on human capital, could be facing anything from malpractice to a lot of
embarrassment.
The HSBC BPO scam has brought back the need for a proper check on the
credentials of the employees hired by BPO companies in India. Last year, another
Mumbai-based BPO firm Intelenets employees were arrested for stealing
information from the office.
After that Nasscom along with the industry decided to have a centralised database,
which would contain information about BPO employees professional and
educational background.
The database service called National Skill Registry was launched in January
06, but it seems that BPO firms are not utilising it to check background for
its existing employees. The database works only if companies give details of
both their existing employees and past employees. The HSBC scam has
exposed that this is not taking place at all. The irregularities in background
checks done at the time of hiring agent level employees continue.
But Background checks are not standard across all companies. There are some
companies who do not conduct any checks due to the sheer volume of candidates
and costs involved at the agent level.
Furthermore, considering the attrition at the entry level, some companies do not
see any value in this procedure
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Based on the data given by the candidate the reference check is initiated with the
previous employers and the academic institutions to verify the veracity of the
information and documents provided by the candidates. However the reference
check with the current employer cannot be carried out until the candidate comes
on board. For levels of Senior Associates and above, criminal background
check (with the police department) is also carried out.
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(E.g Roll number for the Degree exam..), it is gathered. However if there is a case
of faking work experience or academic qualifications, the case is referred to HR for
appropriate termination action. The same applies to any adverse report from the
police.
10.1 Algorithm for the Reference Check process1) The application form filled by the candidate after he clears the HR round is sent
to the third party for thorough check if he accepts the offer.
2) The report is awaited from the third party.
3) When the Final report of the candidate is obtained, check if the report is positive
or not. If the report is positive, check if the candidate has joined the organization or
is he still yet to join.
If he has joined the organization, update his reference check status in the master
sheet of reference check as POSITIVE. Maintain the filing status.
The candidates who are yet to join, when finally join the company, their names and
status needs to be appended on the master sheet of Reference check file. This
check is done at the end of the month.
4) If the report is negative, check if the candidate has joined the organization or is
he still yet to join.
If he has not joined the organization, revoke his offer.
If he has joined the organization, update his reference check status in the master
sheet of reference check as NEGATIVE. Maintain the filing status.
5) When the status is Negative, drop a mail to the concerned person as well as his
Project Manager. Ask him to meet up ASAP.
6) Meet the person and discuss the issue with him. Make him realize the
seriousness of the issue.
7) Check if the case can be closed with the help of an apology letter. It would be
accepted only if the mistake was unconditional typographical error.
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If the case can be closed with an apology letter ask the concerned person to
submit the same and close the case after updating the reference check status as
POSITIVE in the master sheet of Reference check file.
8) If the case cannot be closed with an apology letter ask him to submit necessary
documents at the earliest to prove his ingenuousness within a given deadline.
Documents would include Salary Slips of the previous company or ,Form16 or ,
Relieving letter of the previous employers in case of Negative Employment check
and Mark sheets or College leaving certificates in case of Negative Education
Check.
9) Keep following up till he doesnt submit the documents .Keep the Manager
informed.
10) After receiving the supplementary documents send them to the third party for
re-verification.
11) Check if the final supplementary report received from the third party is
POSITIVE or NEGATIVE.
12) If the supplementary report is Positive, inform the project Manager and the
concerned person about the same and close the case after updating the reference
check status as POSITIVE in the master sheet of Reference check file.
13) If the supplementary report is Negative, inform the project Manager and the
concerned person about the same , make him resign from the organization and
update the reference check status as NEGATIVE in the master sheet of Reference
check file.
14) Keep following up till he is actually relieved from the organization and close the
case only after he has resigned and being relieved.
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10.2 FLOWCHART
START
Send offer
Offer
Accepted?
Offer Reject
53
Final
report
Positive
?
Candidate
joined?
Candidate
Joined?
Offer revoked
1
Maintain filing status.
54
Has he
submitted the
documents
within the
deadline?
1.
55
Suppleme
ntary
report
Positive?
56
Case Closed.
1
STOP.
57
Background Profile
Subject Name
AB
Date of Birth
Fathers Name
Phone Number
CD
Executive Summary
Check
Status
Remarks
Education Check
Positive
Employment Check I
Positive
Employment Check II
Positive
Criminal Check
No Adverse Remarks
Ms. X
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Respondent
Designation
Feedback
Institute Name
Year Passed
Qualification Gained
Remarks (if any)
Candidates Claim
Feedback
Engg.College
2003
Post Graduate Diploma in
Industrial Management
Nil
Confirmed
Confirmed
Confirmed
HR Feedback: Employer I
Respondent Name
Ms. B
Designation
Assistant Officer - Human Resources
Organization Name
Employment Dates
Last Position Held
Candidates Claim
Company A
June 2003 January 2006
Senior Business Analyst
59
Feedback
Confirmed
Confirmed
Confirmed
Organization
Company A
Feedback
Mr. C, the subjects previous supervisor (as per the
application form) informed THIRD PARTY that:
60
HR Feedback: Employer II
Respondent
Mr. D
Name
Designation
Incharge - Administration Department
Organization
Name
Employment
Dates
Last Position
Held
Remarks (if
any)
Candidates Claim
Company B
Feedback
Confirmed
61
Feedback
Mr. E, the subjects previous supervisor (as per the
application form) informed THIRD PARTY that:
62
No Adverse Remarks
THIRD PARTY
Background Profile
Subject Name
AB
Date of Birth
Fathers Name
Phone Number
CD
63
Executive Summary
Check
Status
Remarks
Education Check
Positive
Employment Check I
Negative
Mr. A
Controller of Examination
Feedback
Institute Name
Year Passed
Qualification Gained
Candidates Claim
Feedback
College of Engineering,
2003
Bachelor of Engineering
(Computer Science)
Confirmed
Confirmed
64
Confirmed
HR Feedback: Employer I
Respondent Name
Mr. B
Designation
Executive - Human Resources
Organization Name
Employment Dates
Last Position Held
Remarks (if any)
Candidates Claim
Company A
October 2004 - March 2006
Technical Associate
The respondent informed that:
Feedback
Confirmed
Negative
Confirmed
65
Organization
Company A
Feedback
Mr. C, the subjects previous supervisor informed that:
66
SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT
AB
June 29, 2006 /Ref No. May06/EdEm/637
Background Profile
Subject Name
Date of Birth
AB
14 September 1979
The subject worked in the organization from August 2005 April 2006.
67
Deleted: EDUCATION/PROFESSIO
NAL BACKGROUND
EMPLOYMENT CHECK
Result
Employment check
Organization Name Company A
Dates Employed
Comments
Technical Associate
Annexure A
Confidential.Cannot be disclosed.
68
Deleted:
Action to be taken- When the case is new and the concerned person
hasnt been called for verification.
8) A late negative report causes problems to the project teams and it is tough
to replace quickly.
69
3) We do not have online systems for public record searches and education and
employment verification. Therefore, we have to rely on manual processes. The
problems could get accentuated if human resources departments do not have
processes in place to reply to verification requests quickly.
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