In an interview with TechGraph, Sudhakar Raja, Founder & CTO of TRST Score spoke about how the industry-specific approach enables companies to mitigate risks while leveraging AI and cloud technologies for HR functions.
Read the complete interview:
TechGraph: Could you help us give a sense of how far TRST Score has come since its creation?
Sudhakar Raja: TRST Score, launched in August 2021, is a Human Risk Mitigation platform developed by Fiducia Score Private Limited. Within just 2 years, TRST Score has gained over 200 customers spanning various industries. It has forged partnerships with FIDC, Sa-Dhan, the Retailers Association of India, and the World Association for Small and Medium Enterprises.
TRST Score is headquartered in Chennai and has teams spread across Bangalore, Mumbai, and Delhi.
TechGraph: How is TRST Score utilizing its sectoral expertise to help companies find the right candidates?
Sudhakar Raja: TRST Score is industry agnostic but via industry bodies such as FIDC, Sa-Dhan, or Retailers Association of India it becomes industry-specific and solves the problem of that specific industry. Acting as a CIBIL in this space for employees, agents, gig workers, surveyors, and valuers. It helps companies in these verticals mitigate the risks associated with both their current employees and future recruits.
Such checks can be done in seconds which is otherwise used to take days or months. Just like how CIBIL brought about financial responsibility among borrowers, TRST Score brings trustworthiness and responsibility among companies’ workforce which by itself would bring about a change in behavior among candidates and current employees.
TechGraph: How do you see technologies namely Artificial Intelligence, and Cloud, with regard to their relevance across HR? What does the future look like?
Sudhakar Raja: Many companies have adopted cloud technologies in their HR functions. Right from hiring to retirement, all functions are affected by AI.
Recruitment: AI-based resume matching, Chatbots, and AI help engage during hiring.
Onboarding Risk Mitigation: Checking risks associated with hiring an individual using an AI platform like TRST Score.
Performance Management and Employee Engagement: Mood-based analysis of everyday functions, productivity analysis, wellness, and financial well-being analysis can all be done with AI, including help in providing corrective measures in real time.
Attrition: AI can help predict attrition and can also be used to identify employees who have the potential to exit the company.
Fraud Analytics: This is another area where AI can play a vital role.
TechGraph: What is your opinion of the ongoing of moonlighting saga?
Sudhakar Raja: There is something called good moonlighting and bad moonlighting. For example, a tech developer teaching yoga in the evening and at weekends is an example of good moonlighting. The same tech person working on technology in the evenings and weekends is an example of bad moonlighting.
The reason for this being considered problematic is not limited to intellectual property theft but also burnout and mental well-being issues which could hamper that individual’s performance in their full-time jobs as a developer.
Companies should be open and put processes and strategies in place to allow open communication about their moonlighting desires. Companies could also choose to help employees work on other projects within the organization and pay them higher should financial constraints be a reason for such moonlighting.
TechGraph: How does TRST Score tackles recruitment fraud?
Sudhakar Raja: There are many recruitment frauds committed by both employers and candidates in the modern world. TRST Score addresses these in specific ways, as outlined below.
Job for Money: This is where a candidate is asked for money in exchange for a job, whether it is via an external recruitment agency or an employee. This could also be a falsified job offer letter which turns out to be a dud. Employers must report individuals who engage in such activities on the TRST Score. The next organization will be alerted to this act by checking the individual’s TRST Score. Once this becomes a standard, those who consider engaging in such activities will be deterred as their actions will follow them throughout their employment.
Money Scam: This is where people are promised jobs, be it part-time or full-time with excessive pay and lured into doing tasks such as liking a YouTube video in exchange for money. Thus, the individual is enticed to pay for bigger paychecks, which turns out to be a scam.
One of the major concerns about this scam is that those offering these jobs pose as recruiters from reputed companies. This affects organizations’ brand image. This is why we provide a widget that can be added to an organization’s website. With this, anyone can verify the details of the person claiming to be an employee of the company. This ensures that random individuals cannot claim to be employees of any company in public.
In general, people must know that the promise of 1000s of rupees for simple tasks is not a sustainable offer and is most likely a scam. The government needs to effectively crack down on such ponzi schemes that attack poor and desperate people leaving them in a worse financial position than they were already in.
Training Fraud: Where employees are promised jobs post training and are asked to pay upfront which turns out to be fraud. Legitimate training institutions that specialize in this same area of expertise may exist. Yet one must be careful of the kind of institutions they are approached by. This is a clear case of buyer beware where candidates must be aware of their risks.
Falsification of Prior Employment Certificates: In this scam, the candidate is provided with false letters of employment experience. This can also include those who are terminated from employment for unethical reasons helping them overcome any hurdles in applying for new jobs.
The fact that there are very few ways to verify an employee’s exit details today allows employees to print whatever they choose as their exit letter. This advantage is also used by fraudulent companies who provide fake experience letters to employees. In this case, the candidate needs to be reported for their actions on TRST Score. This is also why organizations should start reporting employee exits on a single verifiable platform TRST Score.
Interview Imposter: This is where the person who gives the interview is different from the person who joins the company. This is mostly true for people hired through remote hiring, for example via Zoom interviews. This is much more common in bulk hiring companies.
Companies need to report such activities to TRST Score. A good way to mitigate such instances is to use the Automated Risk Services (Instant Checks) offered by TRST Score to verify a candidate’s identity at the interview or pre-interview stages.
Recruitment Agency Commission Fraud: Companies pay 8.33% of the annual CTC of a candidate as commission to the recruiter. This comes with a replacement guarantee of 3 months if the candidate leaves within this period. The recruitment agencies post the 3-month period keep shifting candidates among various companies and collect commissions.
Recruitment agencies who engage in such activities can be reported on the TRST Score platform. This will ensure that the company changes its ways and prevents other companies from heading down the same route.
