Improved Recruitment Efficiency

Problem Solved for Starbucks Australia: Faster time to hire and 2+ days a month saved by automating right to work, VEVO check and national police check processes.

About the Business

Since initial entry into the Australian market in 2000, Starbucks Australia has evolved significantly, establishing numerous locations across the country. With over 72 corporate owned and operated stores in Australia, the globally-recognised brand has carved a distinctive niche in the local coffee retail landscape. The company employs approximately 1400 team members, referred to as partners. Notably, around half of these employees hold various types of visas.

Pain Point

As Starbucks Australia continues to expand, the team identified challenges with their existing right to work and compliance processes. The previous vendor they used to manage the task relied on manual VEVO checks, often delivering slow results, taking anywhere from 24 hours up to 5 days during peak hiring periods.

Additionally, the manual storage of right to work and visa verification results presented risks for compliance with both immigration policies and Australian Privacy Principles. Starbucks sought a solution that not only expedited the checking process but also ensured ongoing compliance for their visa-holding employees.

Solution

After research and discussions with various suppliers, Talent Manager Lizzie Ibeakanma discovered CheckWorkRights. What stood out was CWR’s seamless integration with SmartRecruiters, requiring no coding and allowing for quick implementation. Lizzie was impressed by the speed at which CWR obtains VEVO check results. CWR’s lightning-fast API connection with the Department of Home Affairs provides timely checks that minimise the risk of losing potential candidates in a highly competitive space.

A bonus for the team, CheckWorkRights was able to offer National Police checks alongside VEVO checks, further streamlining the employment process for team members working in management positions.

Implementation

The implementation was really straightforward. Without needing IT assistance, Lizzie was able to connect CheckWorkRights with SmartRecruiters in a matter of minutes through the SmartRecruiters Marketplace.

The Starbucks team took proactive measures to prepare their team members, sending clear messaging two weeks before the launch to inform them about the requirements for updated checks and the benefits of the new system. As a result, Starbucks Australia’s existing team members completed their right to work check requirements in record time.

Talent Manager, Lizzie Ibeakanma said, “Over 50% of our team completed their right to work check requirements via CheckWorkRights within the first 24 hours. It’s that easy to pick up and use.”

The mobile-friendly design of the platform facilitated high engagement from their cohort of tech-savvy partners, as nearly all checks were conducted end to end on mobile devices.

Upon success in interviews, new hires receive a link to complete checks via SmartRecruiters, automating the pre-employment process. The employee accesses required checks via their secure MyCheck link and are clearly stepped through requirements for check completion. Automated reminders keep candidates engaged and status updates allow the hiring team transparency over how candidates are tracking.

This efficiency allows the HR team to focus on other critical areas of recruitment while ensuring compliance.

Results

Since onboarding with CWR, and connecting CWR with SmartRecruiters, Starbucks Australia has experienced significant improvements in their hiring processes:

Reduced Time to Hire: The streamlined process has decreased the number of candidates dropping off at the pre-employment check stage, primarily due to previously complex forms.
Increased Awareness: The implementation has led to greater awareness of working rights among team members, leading to a heightened interest from the C-suite in monitoring visa holders.
Time Savings: Monthly recurring visa checks that used to take 4 hours of manual data input each week are removed from their workload, resulting in two full days of work saved each month for the team.
Increased Compliance: Always-on automated visa checks ensure that the Starbucks Australia Talent Team always has accurate data on hand to use for rostering and audits, in turn greatly reducing their risk of non-compliance.
Packaged Checks: Starbucks Australia runs national police checks on a handful of their partners, and these are now sent alongside right to work checks for an improved candidate experience and faster turnaround.

The Starbucks Australia team expressed satisfaction with the responsiveness and support from the CheckWorkRights team, highlighting their ability to receive immediate assistance when needed.