Discover how Mace Scaled Pre-Employment Background Screening Across 40+ Countries with our Matrix Security Watchdog solution, and transformed their global construction hiring

Global Construction Screening: How Mace Scaled Worldwide

The client

When global construction specialist Mace expanded operations across 40+ countries, their existing pre-employment background screening and employee vetting processes became a critical bottleneck. High-volume construction recruitment for simultaneous large-scale projects, combined with stringent BPSS clearance compliance requirements for government work, created operational challenges that threatened project timelines and costs.

Our Matrix Security Watchdog solution transformed Mace’s approach to candidate vetting and onboarding, delivering real-time visibility, automated compliance checks, and seamless integration with existing HR systems. The result: significantly reduced turnaround times, enhanced compliance confidence, and freed HR capacity for strategic initiatives.

The challenge

As Mace’s footprint expanded into over 40 countries, their existing pre-employment screening simply couldn’t keep up. As is common in sectors like construction, high-volume hiring for simultaneous, large-scale projects placed a heavy burden on manual reference checks and document gathering, leading to bottlenecks just when speed and agility were most needed.

Like many companies in the construction industry, Mace faced the complex challenge of implementing consistent background checks and employee vetting standards across multiple jurisdictions while maintaining the speed required for construction recruitment.

Disconnected systems offered HR and hiring managers little visibility or control, making it difficult to track candidate progress or flag potential risks early. At the same time, Mace had to uphold minimum BPSS standards for government-related projects and satisfy growing client demands for transparent, auditable hiring practices, all without compromising candidate experience or their employer brand.

Their goal was clear: maintain the highest standards (including BPSS-level checks for government projects) whilst giving HR and hiring managers a single source of truth.

Our solution

Working side-by-side with Mace’s HR and people operations teams, we deployed an end-to-end background screening and employee vetting platform that delivered:

• Real-time visibility: A single dashboard showing each candidate’s progress, from ID verification to final clearance.
• Role-specific screening packages: Including BPSS-level checks automatically tailored to project requirements.
• Seamless integrations: Easy data exchanges with Mace’s existing HR systems, document handling, and audit-ready documentation, and connecting with Konfir for instant employment verification.
• Dedicated candidate management: A personal point of contact for applicants, ensuring they move smoothly through the process and experience Mace’s employer brand at its best.

The results

• Operational Efficiency: By automating manual references and flagging potential clearance issues before mobilisation, Matrix Security Watchdog freed Mace’s HR professionals from paperwork and firefighting. For roles requiring government-level clearance, the platform has significantly cut turnaround times, translating directly into fewer hold-ups on site and better cost control.
• Strategic HR Capacity: Hiring managers now get full visibility via a single, intuitive dashboard; candidates benefit from a consistent, supportive journey, and compliance evidence is generated automatically—no more chasing files or ad-hoc audits. HR teams are freed from routine screening tasks, allowing them to concentrate on strategic people work.
• Evidenced Trust and Performance: In a highly regulated, high-trust sector, demonstrating end-to-end, auditable hiring practices is non-negotiable. With Matrix Security Watchdog, Mace can now show stakeholders clear audit trails, consistent global standards and a culture of safety from day one.
• Construction Industry Compliance: Streamlined BPSS clearance processes and standardised background checks across all jurisdictions, ensuring consistent employee vetting standards for government and private sector projects.
• Partnership for Continuous Improvement: Our partnership doesn’t end at launch. We meet regularly with Mace to review service performance, share insights and refine the process. This collaborative rhythm ensures that as Mace’s projects evolve, so does our service to them, keeping Matrix Security Watchdog always responsive and always pragmatic.

The outcome

In a highly regulated, high-trust sector, demonstrating responsible, end-to-end hiring practices is non-negotiable. Matrix Security Watchdog provides Mace with clear evidence of compliance across borders and roles, underpinning trust, safety and performance in every construction project.

The transformation extends beyond operational efficiency to strategic capability building. By automating routine processes and providing real-time visibility, Mace can focus on what matters most: delivering exceptional projects whilst building the talent pipeline needed for future growth.

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