The specific distributed ledger protocol that IBV is using comes from Swiss startup KryptoPal, which provides blockchain solutions for enterprises. IBV is hoping that using blockchain technology in this fashion will help prevent negligent hiring and reduce workplace crimes that are currently costing businesses $50 billion annually.
A U.S.-based startup company called I’ve Been Vetted (IBV) is using blockchain technology to prevent workplace crimes.
Venkat Nallapati, Founder and CEO of KryptoPal, said, “We’re excited to launch this blockchain-based platform which will help form a relationship between businesses and employees that is built on trust and transparency. Employers can be assured that they are hiring the best and most trustworthy people for the job by checking a candidate’s smart contract, while employees can prove their professional merit and compliance history throughout their careers.”
This new platform, build on smart contract technology, can help business owners and HR professionals reduce financial and reputational costs due to workplace crimes. The platform uses machine learning to predict and prevent these crimes.
Jo Lynn Clemens, Founder and CEO of IBV, said, “It’s common knowledge among the HR industry that pre-employment background checks are simply insufficient as standalone tools for vetting. We have decided to work with KryptoPal to build a platform that will utilize smart contract technology to enable the transfer of the employer’s risk profile to their insurer and the transfer of a worker’s compliance profile to the next employer. By combining blockchain technology with our prevention and mitigation methods, we hope to reduce the number of harmful incidents against any consumer, in any industry”, said Clemens.
IBV also continues monitoring employees after hiring, reassessing them semiannually and calculating a risk score. By putting these scores on a blockchain, an immutable online record, future employers and insurers can access this information to assess a potential employee’s risk profile.
Nallapati also said, “Using KryptoPal’s developed software, all past and ongoing employment history documented by IBV can now be securely stored and shared using smart contracts. This sensitive data is immutable and verifiable, and can only be accessed by IBV, applicants and the hiring business.”
Employees changing jobs can also export their compliance history to expedite the hiring process and enhance their application.
Arguably, handing this information over to a centralized company goes against the initial vision of blockchain technology, which was the creation of a financial system that was permissionless, decentralized, and pseudonymous. Instead, IBV is using the technology to create permanent, online records of our employment histories.
For better or for worse, it is simply worth noting the deviation from the cypherpunk origins of blockchain technology. One might say that if you’ve got nothing to hide you’ve got nothing to fear, however, a cryptocurrency purist would reply that giving any organization this much power over people’s professional reputations, histories, and eligibility for employment opens the door to problems of centralization.
