Interview with George Griffiths of uCheck

Corporate Finance Partner, James Finnegan interviews George Griffiths, Managing Director, of online checking service, uCheck, about the impact of Covid-19 and the challenges the business has faced.

uCheck offers an online checking service to screen job applicants and potential employees, covering DBS Checks, Right to Work Checks, Identity Checks and Adverse Credit Checks. It serves a large number of clients across the UK; both in sectors where checking is mandatory, for example Care and Education, and for other large employers who undertake voluntary checks as part of best practice, for example ITV and the Royal Mail Group. Based in Exeter, the business has grown rapidly over the last 10 years to become the UK’s largest provider of employee checking services and has worked closely with the Government on developing checking systems. 

How has business been impacted by Covid-19?

We have a footprint across a number of sectors, but in general the demand for our services follows the market for recruitment. There was a drop in demand as recruitment was put on hold in some areas to focus on critical hires only. Our volumes were down by 30% initially, but recruitment in the care sector continued and changes in regulation elsewhere created new opportunities for us. We are now back to our previous levels and growing again.

How did changes in regulation help you?

New quick checks for staff in Covid critical roles, such as the NHS voluntary responders, were introduced. On request from the Government, we had to code, test, develop and bring to market a new product within weeks, which produced a lot of work for us.

How did you keep team morale going during lockdown?

Maintaining our team spirit and culture was always going to be one of our primary challenges. We have a collegiate, family business culture that relied on people being in regular contact in the office. We quickly ramped up to daily video calls within teams to ensure operationally efficiency, but also to check in with any personal issues and ensure everyone had daily face to face interaction. We kept the office social life alive by arranging online pub quizzes and charades. We wanted to do more to support our team and their families at home, so we paid a £500 bonus to every member of staff to assist them in supporting any family members or friends who were struggling. If they did not need it, we asked them to give the money to a favourite charity.

What other challenges did you face?

We are a technology-based business and had robust disaster recovery plans in place which included remote working. However, these plans anticipated temporary weather-related incidents rather than months of lockdown. We identified a number of likely technical challenges early on, such as home internet speeds, and we quickly invested in solutions to overcome them. We were determined not to allow Covid-19 to become an excuse for a drop in client service standards.

Have you utilised any government support schemes?

We were in the fortunate position of not having to take any money from the government, and we decided that was not something that we wanted to do.

Have any opportunities come out of recent events?

We have taken advantage of the opportunity to accelerate flexible working for our staff. We have a remote working policy now that allows staff to work at home if they choose. We still have mandatory office days for everyone to ensure our people are interacting, but we have been able to provide more choice. This move has also widened our own recruitment pool; we are now hiring staff who live further away from the head office, as they do not need to undertake a long daily commute.