The Warehouse Group (TWG) is New Zealand’s largest generalist retailer, employing 12,000 staff nationwide. TWG’s HR Area Lead, Talent Acquisition and Systems, Kim Nicholas and her team hire for 250+ retail stores, multiple online stores and distribution and fulfilment centres.
The Challenge
“We’re a lean team that sources talent across a large footprint, so processes and systems play a crucial role. When it came to reference checking, we wanted more efficiency and standardised reference processes,” Kim explains.
“We’d used another online reference platform before, and it wasn’t right for TWG. So, when Referoo reached out, we initially weren’t sure if we’d go down that path again. But it was immediately clear that Referoo would be different for us.”
In early 2021, TWG’s hiring was ramping up again in the wake of the pandemic. Talent pools were slim, and the team did not have days to spend on reference checking.
“We knew we had to move fast to secure talent. We’d just brought distribution centre recruitment in-house, so a lot was happening at TWG. We decided to trial Referoo in our South Island distribution centre, and it was a godsend,” Kim says.
The Solution
Following the successful trial, Referoo was further rolled out across TWG’s larger North Island distribution centre and customer care contact centres, given the speed needed to recruit in this space.
And Kim and her team love Referoo’s seamless integration with their SmartRecruiters platform. “Referoo’s integration with SmartRecruiters gives us everything in one place with full visibility of the process. In a high-volume environment, that’s critical,” Kim says.
Talent Acquisition Partner Chevelle Munro looks after recruitment for some of the highest volume portfolios, including TWG’s contact and distribution centres. When she joined TWG, Chevelle immediately saw the advantages of Referoo.
“In our peak periods, we’ll be recruiting around 300+ roles in my area, and we need to get people in and ready to start quickly. In a manual process, you might go back and forth with the candidate and then spend days trying to reach a referee.
In a high-volume environment, you don’t have that luxury of time. When I saw Referoo, I immediately liked it, not just because it addressed the bottleneck but because it also enhanced our candidate care, Chevelle says.
“Candidates love that they can do it on their phones in a few minutes. It’s not an imposition; there’s no running around. They just upload their referee contact details, and away Referoo goes. And then, for the referee, it’s straightforward as well. It keeps everyone happy.”
The SMS functionality also plays a significant role in Chevelle’s area.
“Many of our referees come from sectors like warehousing and construction. They’re not behind a computer all day and sometimes don’t have an email address or don’t check it regularly. An email could go unnoticed for months. But Referoo’s SMS function gets it in front of them straight away. It’s the best way to get through to many of our referees and has definitely enhanced the value of Referoo for our part of the business,” she says.
In addition, Chevelle says the Referoo SmartRecruiters Integration gives her a 360-degree view of the process.
“Being able to track the process is important so we know things are moving. I also like how Referoo shows us if a candidate or referee has opened an email; it’s that level of detail throughout the process,” she adds.
Chevelle and Kim both appreciate the built-in fraud detection, too. TWG has had 63 fraud alerts since starting with Referoo. While Chevelle and Kim acknowledge that many of those were easily explained by the candidate, they like the peace of mind that they’ll pick up any issues early.
And when it comes to the user experience, Chevelle says Referoo has that covered, too.
“It’s incredibly easy to bring new team members on to Referoo. There’s no lengthy training. It really is a ‘show them and walk away’ thing. And when they see how it all works, they quickly become advocates too, so getting everyone on board has been simple.”
The Results
With Referoo, TWG has reduced the average reference turnaround to just 8.5 hours. And Chevelle says many references come in overnight, particularly from international or shift-working referees.
“Often, I come in the morning and find completed reference checks waiting for me in Referoo. Previously, this would have been me making phone calls, trying to find times out of hours. Now, this part of my job is done while I’m asleep. It doesn’t get better than that, right?”
In fact, 36% of TWG’s references are completed outside business hours, meaning Referoo keeps the process humming 24/7.
“Put simply, Referoo is a lifesaver. We have an average reference response time of around a business day, a 24-hour recruitment process and happy stakeholders in a high-volume environment,” Chevelle concludes.