CUSTOMER STORY: Hunter Douglas

Helping a Window Treatment
Manufacturer Manage Risk

Melinda Keith

Senior Director of Customer Support, North America, Hunter Douglas

Finding the right ambassadors

Hunter Douglas employs and works through strategic partners all over the world to essentially serve as customer-facing ambassadors of its business. For instance, in the US, says Melinda Keith, Hunter Douglas’ Senior Director of Customer Support for North America, the company deploys its network of independent installers into customers’ homes to set up thousands of new custom window treatments each day.

“When you send an installer into a customer’s home, they are entering that person’s kingdom,” she relates. “The homeowner sees this person as representative of Hunter Douglas, making it incredibly important that we have vetted and are endorsing the individual who is physically walking into their home.”

Melinda explains that Hunter Douglas considers its external contract workers to be an extension of its larger internal employee family. “And so we really need to know who we are inviting to be a part of our family to ensure they share and uphold the same strong values and standards that are hallmarks of our company,” Melinda states. That’s where Sterling comes in. “We needed a true business partner to help us, not just another vendor,” she asserts.

I think we would be at risk as a company if we did not have a partner like Sterling that was guiding and advising us through the changes happening in the employment space."
End-to-end solution

Hunter Douglas utilizes Sterling’s proprietary technology platform, which serves as a fully integrated solution that manages background screenings and onboarding activity with secure anywhere/anytime access, minimal data entry, and accessibility via most web-enabled devices. The platform is designed to accelerate time to hire, create a great candidate experience, and provide a vehicle to be more regulatory-compliant.

Positive results

“This has proven to be a really great tool for our larger organization across North America,” Melinda says. “The background check, employment verification, and education verification components are the most important elements for us today. And our recruiters are getting really prompt turnaround with very few issues when we have to raise our hand. The Sterling team is communicating well when we have a question or a concern, and are finding solutions for us quickly.”

Customer Profile

Founded in 1919, Hunter Douglas is the world’s leading manufacturer of window coverings and a major manufacturer of architectural products. Operating as a highly decentralized, global federation of small and medium-size companies, its strength is in its ability to develop innovative, high-quality, proprietary products that can be found in millions of homes and commercial buildings around the globe.

Industry
Manufacturing
Location

World headquarters in Rotterdam, the Netherlands; US-based corporate office in Pearl River, NY

Employees
23,500+ globally
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We chose Sterling as our background screening partner primarily because of the company’s stellar reputation in client-focused initiatives."
MELINDA KEITH
Chief Technical Officer, HunterDouglas
Leveraging deep market knowledge

As much as Hunter Douglas appreciates the benefits of accuracy and speed in screening results, the company also has come to rely on Sterling’s deep market knowledge and compliance guidance.

“It’s the forward-thinking market expertise that Sterling brings that we also greatly value,” states Melinda, pointing specifically to the constantly changing landscape of regulations at local, state, and national levels.“ As a large employer,” she explains, “we simply cannot keep up with the rapid pace of change in that sphere. What I’ve really been impressed with is that Sterling provides us with guidance and resources on the broader view of what’s going on at a national and state level. It’s been really impressive to me hearing measures we didn’t even know we’re going to be changing in this landscape.

Mitigating risk

“I think that we would be at risk as a company if we did not have a partner like Sterling that was guiding and advising us about changes that are happening in the employment space,” Melinda concludes. “Letting us know what may become problematic later this year or next year makes us a better employer, and allows us to plan in advance for pivoting our requirements as necessary.”

background check for employment
Customer Profile

Founded in 1919, Hunter Douglas is the world’s leading manufacturer of window coverings and a major manufacturer of architectural products. Operating as a highly decentralized, global federation of small and medium-size companies, its strength is in its ability to develop innovative, high-quality, proprietary products that can be found in millions of homes and commercial buildings around the globe.

Industry
Manufacturing
Location

World headquarters in Rotterdam, the Netherlands; US-based corporate office in Pearl River, NY

Employees
23,500+ globally
Share this story:
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