In early 2021, McKinsey & CompanyOpens a new window identified one of its top five dynamic trends reshaping the mortgage industry as “third-party technology and data providers are streamlining more parts of the mortgage process.â€Â
As McKinsey explains, lenders invested in either proprietary or third-party technologies to expedite their approval processes. They point out that platform modernization and “efficient technology†in the mortgage industry include solutions such as automated verification, along with approved data extraction and compliant procedures.  Â
For an employee buying their first car, their best car, their first home, or their dream home is one of the biggest decisions they are making. Mortgage applications, as well as other major life events, demonstrate that employees have a life outside of “nine to five.â€Â If an employer helps them and provides services that enhance their needs outside of work, it sends a caring message from employer to employee, thereby improving the overall company culture.
Reducing Time to Verification
Employers participate in those life events and must have empathy around those events to help expedite them and be responsive to employee needs. Such involvement is helped by automation but goes beyond just that. Employers who use automated verification services for life events are making a difference in challenging but exciting times of such life events for employees by helping to streamline the process and cut down on the time they must wait for approvals. Â
All are emotional life events that are stressful. What adds to the stress is that many employees are not sitting on nest eggs, live paycheck to paycheck, and may not have a stellar credit score. This is only likely to continue in time as inflation creeps steadily upward. It also raises a flag of caution by lenders as they review applications.
Lenders and guarantors are sensitive to the risk of default. Time waiting during such events adds to the stress level. If an employer spends a whole week providing verification to another entity requiring verification, those waiting only incur more stress. Â
When the process is automated, data is shared in record time, cutting down the time needed to complete the verification. With the advent of such technology, the employee and their employment culture improve. Automation and technology enhance the entire process for an employee, boosting the workplace culture by being responsive to their needs and facilitating these emotional life events for the employers. It shows employees that their employers take an interest in their lives by having invested in technology that automates the verification process. Â
Let us look at an example of an employee who finds their first home after a long search. But now begins the hard part: the mortgage application process. Â
Lenders need to know where they work and how much they make. Banks and financial institutions typically want three years of employment history and verification of employment, which can be cumbersome to provide. Banks and financial institutions turn to employers for such information. If the employer is not prompt in providing such information, it creates stress for the employee and can even cost them the buying opportunity. Automating the process greatly streamlines the transaction.Â
It also benefits the employer. For example, employment and income verification for any type of loan is likely to be directed to the human resources department of an organization. They get calls from banks, government agencies, background screening companies, and others. The employer does not know who is calling (could it just be a nosy neighbor calling just to see how much they make?) or if the employee has even provided consent to release such information. Â
Another key benefit of automating employment and income verification is its credentialing process. Before sensitive information is released, a verification tool makes sure the inquiry for information has the right purpose and that the employee has given consent. It is also more efficient, as the human resources department is not burdened with answering calls about employees (or about former employees as well). The hope and expectation of a phone call verification is that human resources will take the call and act on it immediately, which may not happen. Â
The net effect of automated verification is positive and win-win for all parties involved in life events that require verification: obtaining approval for an auto loan, waiting to finalize a job offer for an employee, receiving approval for a home mortgage, obtaining an emergency medical loan, or a single mom in need who is waiting for her benefits to be approved so that she can get on food stamps. Â
See More: How Blockchain Works for Employee Verification
Why Does This Matter Now?
The time to adopt such technology is now. For worker-employer relationships, the pandemic tested everything. The success of that relationship, moving forward, can be a significant factor in the overall success of an organization.
As part of Deloitte’s Tech Trends 2022Opens a new window , they note that new technologies are busy improving “the mechanics of data-sharing across and between organizations while preserving the veil of privacy.†They describe this as organizations unlocking greater value from sensitive data from voluminous arsenals of data that have “traditionally been off limits.â€
If there is ever a time to implement something as subtle as an automated verification process for the benefit of employees and to enhance their needs beyond the nine to five, that time has arrived.  Â
In future work, both workers and employers may view the responsibility of the employer as disparate from the social fulfillment of an employee. But the relationship between workers is symbiotic and relies on each other’s needs.
Verification automation can optimally boost workforce culture in the future of work.Â
Have you invested in verification automation to help your employees outside their work hours? Let us know what benefits you have seen on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window .