Employment Screening Resources (ESR) Important Client Update (posted 09/03/2020)

Equifax's The Work Number (TWN) Announces Significant Service & Price Changes

What is Equifax TALX - The Work Number ("TWN") Service?
Equifax's TWN service allows employers to outsource their employment verification process to Equifax, taking that task out of the hands of internal HR personnel. When ESR is requested to perform an employment verification by our clients, a significant percent of the time, we run into an employer who has outsourced this process to Equifax and their TWN service. Where they have chosen to outsource, the employer will not directly provide ESR with an employment verification - ESR must obtain this information from Equifax. Equifax reports they now provide outsourced verifications for over 900,000 sources consisting of individual employers and payroll processing companies. This represents over 65% of employers in the U.S. and a massive 900% increase over the last 12 months, and the number of sources is ever increasing.

What is Changing?
Equifax has notified all background screening firms that the options and pricing for the TWN service are changing. ESR has negotiated with Equifax and received concessions that help minimize limitations and the price increases. Beginning in October, ESR clients will see a new Work Number service on their reports so that it is easy to identify that TWN was processed, and which employment histories returned are beyond those needed to complete verification requests. Clients will not be charged for these additional employer histories, but clients who have added cost directives will be charged normally where directives need to be applied.

Who does this affect?
It effects all ESR clients that order employment verifications. Even though not all employers are part of the TWN service, the number that are is so significant, obtaining some to most results from TWN is unavoidable.

When are the new pricing and service levels effective?
These changes will go into effect on October 1, 2020.

What are my options?
The third-party fee is increasing as shown in the next section based on your preferences for how many years of employment history are requested. The new procedure is for ESR to query the TWN service first to obtain records they may hold. If they hold no records, there is no third-party fee and verifications are performed normally. If record(s) are found there is one third party fee no matter how many employers are returned with the query. As you can see in the table, the shorter the time frame requested, the higher the third-party fee. It is ESR's belief that our clients will do best under the "Select All" option when compared to paying a higher fee at the other levels even though from time to time an employer that was not specifically requested will be returned and the third-party fee will be charged. A side benefit of the new service is your ability to obtain information on current employment where TWN holds that record, without contacting the employer or alerting them that their employee is looking for a new job.

	Rate per Transaction
Current third-party fee is $24.23 Options and costs effective 10/01/2020	Based on number of years of employment history
1. Talent Report Employment All	$27.26
2. Talent Report Employment 7-year history	$29.98
3. Talent Report Employment 5-year history	$32.71
4. Talent Report Employment 3-year history	$35.44

What do I need to do?
ESR needs to know your preference from the table above as soon as possible for future processing of TWN employment verifications. If you prefer Option 1, there is no need to contact ESR as this will be the default choice.

For clients with specific directives that will be impacted by the TWN program change, ESR will be in touch to discuss options and preferences.

ESR has created a detailed list of FAQs that is available in your ESR Client Portal and can also be viewed here.

Please review the FAQ first, and then direct any additional questions or clarifications regarding these updates to our Client Service Team at (888) 999.4474 or clientsupport@esrcheck.com.

Click here to access: The Work Number Frequently Asked Questions