Vetty Named in SIA's 2026 Background Verification Report

The background screening market is changing fast — and the firms shaping that change are no longer just the legacy "Big Four." In its newly released Trends in Background Verification report (March 2026), Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) maps out a $6.3 billion global market in the middle of a major shift: from point-in-time pre-employment checks to a broader "trust stack" spanning identity, compliance, and continuous monitoring across the entire employment lifecycle.

We're proud to share that Vetty is named in the report as part of an emerging cohort of providers building their business around the staffing industry — specifically called out alongside our work in healthcare and commercial staffing.

The rise of candidate fraud

AI has turned synthetic identities, deepfake interviews, and fabricated credentials into a real and growing risk, especially in remote hiring. Identity verification is moving earlier in the funnel as a result. SIA reports that 72% of buyers have encountered or suspected candidate fraud in their workforce program.

How Vetty solves for it:

Vetty pulls identity verification to the top of the funnel with live ID checks and automated name matching, so fraudulent and mismatched applications are caught before they consume recruiter time. Wag! used this approach to cut identity-related fraud by 75% while absorbing a 10x surge in applicant volume without missing a beat.

Speed as a revenue lever

For staffing firms, cycle time is not just a candidate experience metric. It is directly tied to gross profit. Every day a screen sits in queue is a day a placement is not billing. Industrial staffing is the weakest segment in the report, with only 57% of firms satisfied with the speed of their checks.

How Vetty solves for it

Vetty is built for staffing speed, with a mobile-friendly candidate flow, automated reminders, real-time status visibility, and native ATS integrations that eliminate manual handoffs. Instant Teams cut turnaround time from six days to four and increased speed-to-hire by 33%. Paramount Staffing fulfills more than 1,000 placements a year with significantly less admin time, thanks to a Bullhorn integration that pushes screening status directly into the staffing workflow.

The widening trust stack

Screening is no longer a standalone transaction. It is becoming part of a connected workflow that spans identity verification, compliance, and post-hire credential monitoring across the employment lifecycle.

How Vetty solves for it

It is exactly the kind of unified approach we have built into VettyVerify, VettyOnboard, and VettyComply. Vetty unifies the full trust stack in a single platform. HHS used this unified approach to cut pre-screening spend by 47%, improve turnaround time by 60%, and reduce support tickets by 14%, all from one connected platform instead of a patchwork of vendors.

Specialization beats scale alone

Consolidation is reshaping the top of the market, but SIA notes meaningful room for providers who go deep on specific verticals and workflows. The Big Four hold 58% of the global market, which leaves 42% to specialists and challengers who compete on depth, speed, and fit.

How Vetty solves for it

Vetty competes on depth, not breadth. We serve ten verticals with tailored solutions, from healthcare and staffing to gig marketplaces and remote work. The result is a platform that adapts to how modern hiring teams actually work, rather than forcing them into a one-size-fits-all enterprise mold.

Why this matters for HR and talent acquisition leaders

SIA's report is one of the most comprehensive looks at where background verification is headed, and a few of the themes it explores line up directly with what we hear from the talent acquisition and operations leaders we work with every day:

The rise of candidate fraud. AI has made synthetic identities, deepfake interviews, and fabricated credentials a real and growing risk — especially in remote hiring. SIA frames this as a fundamental rethink of when and how identity verification happens in the hiring funnel.

Speed as a revenue lever, not just a metric. For staffing firms in particular, the report makes the connection that matters most: cycle time isn't just about candidate experience — it directly impacts gross profit. Every day a screen sits in queue is a day a placement isn't billing.

The widening "trust stack." Background checks are no longer a standalone transaction. They're becoming part of a connected workflow that includes identity verification, compliance monitoring, and post-hire credential tracking — exactly the kind of unified approach we've built into VettyVerify, VettyOnboard, and VettyComply.

Specialization beats scale-for-scale's-sake. SIA notes that while consolidation is reshaping the top of the market, there's meaningful room for providers who go deep on specific verticals and workflows. That's the lane we've chosen — and it's why staffing firms, healthcare operators, and high-volume hirers continue to choose Vetty over more generalized platforms.

Our take

Being named in a report of this caliber, alongside an analysis of where the entire category is heading, is a meaningful moment for our team. It also reinforces something we've believed since day one: the future of background screening isn't about being the biggest vendor on the list. It's about being the most useful partner in a hiring leader's day-to-day reality — fast, configurable, transparent, and built for how modern teams actually work.

If you're evaluating screening partners, planning your 2026 vendor strategy, or just trying to make sense of where this market is going, the full SIA report is worth a read.