Your Expert Insights are Requested: Take HireRight’s 2026 Global Benchmark Survey
HireRight has just launched its 19th annual Benchmark Survey focused on background screening, talent acquisition, and workforce management, which is open until March 11, 2026. Learn more plus look back at findings from HireRight’s 2025 Benchmark Report that this year’s survey will be tracking against.
Each year, HireRight conducts a Global Benchmark Survey of HR, risk, and talent management professionals to find out more about the HR landscape—in particular, background screening, talent acquisition, and workforce management. We use this information to compile our annual Global Benchmark Report, an in-depth look at regional and global recruitment, background screening, and talent management trends.
Our 2026 Benchmark Survey is live until Wednesday, March 11, 2026—so if your role covers talent acquisition, talent management, risk management, or background screening, we would love your input!
You can anonymously share your company’s recent experiences of hiring, screening, and workforce management—plus, you can help us support a global charity. For every survey completed, HireRight will donate to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which is committed to help protect nature for all life on Earth, including our own.
As we look forward to sharing the results of this year’s survey with insights into current trends, here are five key findings from HireRight’s 2025 Global Benchmark Report.
Top 5 Takeaways from HireRight’s 2025 Benchmark Survey
1. Quality is the top priority when choosing a background screening provider
Accuracy of results has held its position as the most frequently cited priority for employers when choosing their employment screening provider. While having an efficient onboarding process for new employees is likely still a priority for most companies, when it comes to the background screening process, it seems that many are willing to spend a little more time and/or money on their background checks if it improves the quality of their findings.
2. Most businesses with a contingent workforce do screen these workers, but the most common process varies from region to region
Companies in North America are most likely to screen their contingent workers via their vendor’s chosen screening provider. In EMEA and APAC, they are more likely to screen them via their company’s screening provider.
3. Many businesses are still not conducting identity checks despite rising levels of ID fraud
Only three in five respondents said their company conducts identity checks as part of its pre-employment screening program. Worryingly, one in six respondents said their business has experienced ID fraud as part of their hiring process, and an additional three out of 10 were unsure.
4. More than three-quarters of businesses have found candidate discrepancies during the screening process in the last 12 months
Globally, 13% said they found on average at least one discrepancy per every five candidates. Undisclosed criminal convictions and education and employment discrepancies were the most common types of candidate inconsistency identified.
5. Criminal record checks are the most common checks included in pre-employment screening programs
Almost nine out of 10 respondents globally conduct criminal record checks on their new hires, making them the most common type of check conducted by employers worldwide. Following this, in North America, ID/SSN verification and sex offender registry are the next most common checks. However, in EMEA and APAC, employment verification and education verification were found to be the next most common checks, with more than three-quarters of respondents from both regions saying they conduct these checks on their new hires.
Want to contribute to uncovering 2026 insights? Take our benchmark survey before March 11, 2026
Look out for this year’s Benchmark Report this summer, where we will compare the data from last year with this year’s survey findings in our 2026 Global Benchmark Report.
