You’ve probably heard vendors promise “instant background checks.” In our last article, we covered why that’s not realistic for regulated hiring. This time, let’s talk about what actually makes enterprise clients stay with a screening provider year after year.

It’s not turnaround time alone.

The Easy Metrics Don’t Tell the Whole Story

Turnaround time, cost per report, volume capacity: these are easy to measure and easy to compare on a spreadsheet. They matter when you’re hiring at scale.

What keeps enterprise teams satisfied over the long term is reliability.

Consistency Across Thousands of Searches

Enterprise hiring teams run hundreds or thousands of background checks across different states, counties, and court systems. Record accessibility varies. Regulatory requirements change. Court infrastructure differs from one jurisdiction to the next.

When results come back inconsistently, hiring slows down. Confidence erodes. Your team starts second-guessing whether they can rely on what they’re seeing.

A good provider delivers consistent results regardless of where you’re hiring. That consistency has to hold up across geography, volume, and time.

Accuracy Prevents Operational Disruption

Inaccurate or incomplete results create real problems. Hiring teams pause decisions. Compliance teams get pulled in. Candidates need follow-up. What should have taken a few days now takes weeks.

Providers who prioritize verification and review before releasing results reduce these disruptions. Fewer issues over time means your team can move faster without constantly troubleshooting.

It also means you’re not dealing with candidate disputes or adverse action complications that could have been avoided.

How Providers Handle Delays Matters More Than Speed

Delays happen in background screening. Court systems get backlogged. Jurisdictions close for holidays. Clerks are out sick. Records take longer to retrieve than expected.

What separates good providers from mediocre ones is how they handle it.

• Do they set clear expectations upfront?

• Do they proactively communicate when something takes longer than usual?

• Can you reach someone knowledgeable when you need an update?

• Do they resolve issues efficiently or leave you chasing answers?

Enterprise teams value responsiveness more than they value promises about speed. Trust gets built when someone keeps you informed, not when they overpromise and underdeliver.

Retention Reflects Satisfaction Better Than Surveys

Short-term satisfaction surveys capture a snapshot. They’re useful, but they don’t show the full picture.

Long-term retention shows sustained satisfaction. Enterprise employers stay with providers who consistently support their hiring needs, adapt as requirements change, and reduce operational risk over time.

UBS has been recognized 14 years in a row by HRO Today as a top enterprise background screening firm in their customer satisfaction ratings. That kind of recognition doesn’t come from hitting a metric once or twice. It comes from showing up reliably for clients year after year.

Screening Is an Operational Partnership, Not a Transaction

For enterprise organizations, background screening isn’t something you buy and forget about. It’s an ongoing operational function that supports hiring, compliance, and workforce planning.

Satisfaction follows when providers act like partners instead of vendors. When they understand your hiring volume, your compliance requirements, your internal workflows. When they staff your account with people who know your business. When they adapt their service to fit how you actually work instead of forcing you into a rigid process.

The providers who understand that tend to be the ones enterprise teams keep.

What This Means for Your Screening Program

If you’re evaluating providers or reconsidering your current one, ask yourself:

• Are you getting consistent results across all your hiring locations?

• Are issues being caught and resolved before they disrupt your workflow?

• When delays happen, do you find out proactively or after you follow up?

• Can you reach someone who actually knows your account?

The answers to those questions matter more than turnaround time averages on a sales deck.

Enterprise hiring is complex. Background screening should make it easier, not add friction. When a provider gets that right, satisfaction follows naturally.

Interested in talking through what a true partnership approach to background screening looks like for your organization? Reach out to UBS to learn how we support enterprise hiring teams.