Anglian Water: Modernising Pre-Employment Screening for a Regulated Utilities Workforce

Overview

When Anglian Water, set out to modernise its background screening programme, it needed more than just a compliant, reliable process. It needed a partner who understood the demands of a highly regulated environment with a large, geographically dispersed workforce, and could integrate seamlessly with its core HR platform, Workday. 

Anglian Water selected Security Watchdog to deliver a bespoke, mobile-first screening solution built around the realities of its workforce, from office-based teams to field operational employees working directly in customers’ homes. The result has seen streamlined right-to-work and referencing processes, reduced manual admin, faster onboarding, and dedicated account support that flexes with fluctuating recruitment demand, all underpinned by a collaborative partnership that continues to deliver value well beyond go-live. 

At-a-Glance

About Anglian Water

Anglian Water is the largest water and water recycling company in England and Wales, supplying almost seven million people nationwide. As a provider of critical national infrastructure, it sources, treats and delivers clean drinking water, and collects, treats and returns wastewater to the environment, operating and maintaining 38,996km of water mains and 76,355km of sewers. 

Delivering this at scale means managing a large, dispersed workforce, around 6,500 employees alongside 3,000 alliance partners and contractors, working across office-based, field operations and customer-facing roles in a sector where regulatory scrutiny and public trust are constant. Every hire, wherever they sit in the business, needs to be verified consistently and defensibly. It was against this backdrop that modernising a largely manual, inconsistent screening process became business-critical rather than a nice-to-have. 

The Challenge

Before partnering with Security Watchdog, Anglian Water’s screening process was largely manual, with limited process visibility from previous provider , something few organisations can afford to carry in a regulated, publicly accountable sector. 

• Slow service: Long, protracted processes from previous provider delayed getting people into needed roles, causing real operational cost during high-recruitment periods. 

• No dedicated candidate support: Without dedicated candidate support, the human step in the process became the weak link, slowing down compliant onboarding and pushing extra manual effort back onto Anglian Water’s own team. 

• Inefficient onboarding logistics: With employees spread around the country, and many working out in the field at remote sites or directly in customers’ homes, Anglian Water struggled with office-based, laptop-first workflows that didn’t reflect how its workforce actually operated. 

The Security Watchdog Solution

Since partnering with Security Watchdog, Anglian Water has moved to a bespoke, role-specific screening programme. Rather than a one-size-fits-all package, checks are built around the realities of each role and the risk profile it carries, from standard office positions through to staff entering customers’ homes. 

• Mobile-first screening: With a large proportion of Anglian Water’s workforce out in the field and used to working from phones or tablets rather than laptops, Security Watchdog’s mobile-first platform removed a major barrier to completing checks and forms. 

“With Security Watchdog, it’s much easier to complete tasks on your phone, especially if you’re new to the company or simply balancing everyday life. You can quickly pick up where you left off and complete what you need without having to log on to a laptop”

Rachel Bryan, People Operations Excellence Lead, Anglian Water 

• An integrated system: By integrating directly with Workday, candidate screening data flows seamlessly into the system Anglian Water already works in, removing the need to manage checks separately across two platforms. 

• Dedicated account support: A single, dedicated contact at Security Watchdog understands Anglian Water’s specific setup, meaning they never have to re-explain their requirements to a different person each time. This means issues get unblocked quickly rather than sitting in a ticket system, avoiding the unreliability this partnership was meant to fix. 

“No matter the time of day, I always get a really quick response. Whether it’s resources, links, or popping in a call that same day, I get what I need from the Security Watchdog team. I really appreciate the personal service because it keeps things moving.”

Ruth Seagrief, Employee Onboarding & Experience Manager, Anglian Water 

• Rapid response to regulatory requirements: When a new sector-wide security screening requirement for director-level hires was introduced at short notice, the Security Watchdog team worked with Anglian Water to build a compliant package from scratch quickly, ensuring there were no delays to hiring. 

“With our new director needing to hit the ground running, we had no room for delays. Security Watchdog advised on exactly the checks required and got them onboarded quickly and compliantly. I really appreciated that!” 

Rachel Bryan, People Operations Excellence Lead, Anglian Water 

The Impact

The shift to a bespoke, digital-first screening programme has delivered measurable operational benefits for Anglian Water, at a scale that matches the size and risk profile of its workforce. 

• Reduced admin burden: Manual admin is often the actual bottleneck causing delay between a candidate starting and being fully cleared. With Security Watchdog, Anglian Water have reduced their admin load structurally, keeping the process reliable even when volume spikes. 

“With Security Watchdog, we have seen a really big change in efficiencies, around a 47% reduction in turnaround time, and less chasing. The support and candidate communication has been a huge help, saving the team time and helping candidates move through the process more smoothly.” 

Ruth Seagrief, Employee Onboarding & Experience Manager, Anglian Water 

• Improved right-first-time screening: Bespoke, role-specific packages mean the right checks are applied from the outset, and digital right-to-work verification catches document issues earlier rather than after a candidate has already progressed. With Security Watchdog, Anglian Water have seen a 55% improvement in right-first-time screening, reducing rework, shortening the time to full clearance, and resulting in a more consistent, defensible compliance record across a large, dispersed workforce. 

• Freed-up capacity for strategic priorities: In a highly regulated sector, time spent on manual chasing is time not spent on higher-value compliance and governance work. With Security Watchdog, Anglian Water’s team are able to focus more on candidate experience rather than day-to-day admin. 

“We’re spending much less time on administration, which means we can focus more on the candidate experience. Knowing that the screening process is being taken care of gives us complete confidence and allows us to concentrate on the areas where we can make the biggest difference.” 

Rachel Bryan, People Operations Excellence Lead, Anglian Water 

• Faster, more consistent onboarding: With turnaround time reduced by up to 47%, Anglian Water are able to onboard candidates faster than ever before, particularly field-based staff who previously found screening processes difficult to complete outside an office setting. 

• Greater confidence in compliance: In a workforce as varied as Anglian Water’s, office-based staff, field engineers, staff entering customers’ homes, director-level hires, a generic screening package risks either missing a required check or over-checking unnecessarily. Having pre-built, role-specific packages means there’s no guesswork each time someone is hired; the right checks are simply attached to the right role by design. 

“With Security Watchdog, we know exactly what packages are required for each role. That gives me the confidence that each employee coming through to us has all the required checks to be able to complete their role safely.” 

Ruth Seagrief, Employee Onboarding & Experience Manager, Anglian Water 

• A responsive, flexible partnership: Security Watchdog have provided Anglian Water with a reliable, trustworthy service that has scaled with fluctuating recruitment demand, consistently absorbing higher-than-predicted volumes seamlessly. 

“Each time we have seen peak periods hit, it’s still been manageable and executed really well.” 

Ruth Seagrief, Employee Onboarding & Experience Manager, Anglian Water

Looking Ahead to What’s Next

Security Watchdog remains steadfast in supporting Anglian Water’s future goals: giving candidates clearer, more immediate feedback when something’s missing so issues surface early rather than after the fact, extending the mobile-first screening experience deeper into the field-based candidate journey, and using the existing account review cadence to spot and resolve friction points before they become onboarding delays. 

“We don’t always know what the future holds and sometimes we can be very reactive when it comes to recruitment, just because of the nature of the work that we do. It’s important to be able to work with a screening company that will grow with us. Security Watchdog is always able to adapt for us and meet our needs.”

Rachel Bryan, People Operations Excellence Lead, Anglian Water 

Above all, the partnership between Anglian Water and Security Watchdog shows what’s possible when screening is built around how a regulated, dispersed workforce actually operates, not around a standard package. As Anglian Water’s needs continue to evolve, that same collaborative, adaptable approach will keep pace with them. 

What Anglian Water think of us