Yardstik

Andrew Johnson, CEO

A hiring decision gets made in minutes. A background check clears. The file is complete, compliant, and neatly stored.

For decades, that moment has defined how organizations measured trust. But in today’s environment, point-in-time verification is no longer enough. Rising fraud complexity and AI-driven identity manipulation have made static checks insufficient—and in some cases, risky.

“A background check at hire is a photograph,” says Andrew Johnson, CEO. “What organizations actually need is a live feed. Yardstik was built to address that problem directly.”

Founded in 2020, the company created the Human Trust Platform (HTP)—a platform enabling continuous workforce trust. It replaces static verification with real-time, ongoing insight into employee and contractor risk. This is not a refinement of legacy screening—it is a practical, scalable solution for modern organizations.

From Single Checks to Continuous Trust

How does continuous monitoring improve visibility into workforce risk compared to static verification?

The Human Trust Platform integrates multiple verification layers into a single, continuously operating system. Background checks, identity verification, and credential validation are no longer isolated steps—they function together as part of a living system.

Real-time monitoring is the foundation. Organizations now receive immediate alerts on criminal activity, watchlist updates, or changes to professional licenses. If an employee is added to a national registry or a license lapses, the platform surfaces the signal instantly. Organizations don’t discover risk months later—they see it when it matters.

This approach transforms trust from a historical record into actionable, ongoing visibility.

Why is AI-native fraud detection necessary to address modern identity and credential risks?

Fraud is no longer limited to fully fabricated identities. Altered credentials, subtle timeline changes, and digital impersonation have become increasingly sophisticated. Yardstik combats these modern attack vectors through AI-native fraud detection, embedded directly into the platform.

By integrating AI into verification, Yardstik ensures that modern fraud techniques are countered with equal sophistication.

Proof of the effectiveness of their approach was displayed when Liveops, a gig marketplace company under attack from sophisticated fraud rings came to Yardstik for help;

“What Yardstik offered that nobody else could match was an integrated solution that would verify identities and use those results in the background check so that no one could use an unverified name/address on the background check.” – Tom Glaser, Information Security Officer at Liveops

CRA Licensing Foundation = Strategic Advantage

Yardstik operates as a licensed Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA). While compliance with data protection and regulatory standards is a baseline, the CRA status also provides a strategic advantage.

The regulated data environment enables Yardstik to aggregate and analyze large volumes of workforce data across organizations, revealing broader patterns in fraud trends, geographic anomalies, and behavioral signals. Single data points become part of a larger networked intelligence system, turning compliance infrastructure into actionable insight.

Organizations using the platform are not just compliant—they gain foresight into emerging risks that would otherwise remain hidden.

Technology-First in a Legacy Industry

In what way does integrated technology improve efficiency and scalability in workforce screening processes?

A key differentiator is Yardstik’s team. Unlike traditional screening providers focused primarily on compliance, Yardstik’s leadership comes from software development, cybersecurity, and SaaS backgrounds.

This technology-first perspective drives the platform’s design. It connects directly to applicant tracking systems (ATS) and workforce management platforms via an API-first architecture. Trust is embedded into daily workflows rather than managed separately.

The result: organizations operate with seamless verification integrated into their existing systems, while gaining deeper insight into workforce risk.

Optimizing Screening Costs

Continuous verification often raises questions about cost. Yardstik addresses this through Sequential Screening, a methodology that prioritizes background checks based on cost and likelihood of disqualification.

Instead of running every check upfront, the platform starts with the checks most likely to remove high-risk candidates, reducing unnecessary screenings. The result is measurable cost savings without sacrificing thoroughness.

For high-volume hiring environments, this turns workforce screening from a fixed operational expense into a controllable, optimized process. By redesigning how organizations approach verification, Yardstik makes continuous trust practical and effective.

Redefining Screening Expectations

Changing an industry mindset is never easy. For years, organizations relied on point-in-time background checks. Legacy vendors optimized the same process rather than challenging it.

“Far too many organizations are still treating their screening processes like a compliance checkbox until something bad happens. We’d rather help businesses understand modern risk and help proactively protect their team before real damage is done.”

Yardstik’s strategy pushes organizations to adopt a broader view of trust, encompassing continuous monitoring, layered verification, and real-time intelligence. Background checks remain part of the process, but they are now one component within a larger system designed to actively manage risk.

This shift is both practical and transformative, addressing a long-standing blind spot in workforce risk management.

Operational Impact in Practice

Yardstik’s system produces measurable operational benefits. For example:

● Jyve, a gig marketplace, screened 97 percent of workers with a median turnaround time of under one hour, reducing support tickets by 75 percent.

● HUNGRY, a logistics company, cut screening costs by 50 percent during a single-day onboarding.

● IMKO, a staffing firm, integrated Yardstik into their ATS in five days versus a four-to-six-week timeline with prior vendors, reclaiming more than 50 hours annually for recruiters.

These results demonstrate that continuous trust is not only effective—it also improves operational efficiency, reduces risk exposure, and delivers actionable insights.

Focused Workforce Application

While Yardstik’s technology could, extend to peer-to-peer marketplaces and verticals the platform’s primary focus remains on workforce trust. This disciplined focus ensures that organizations can scale their verification processes confidently without speculative distractions.

By concentrating on real-time workforce monitoring, identity verification, and credential validation, Yardstik provides a reliable foundation for organizations that handle high-risk or high-volume staffing scenarios.

Delivering Full Lifecycle Protection

At its core, Yardstik equips organizations with operational intelligence they could not achieve through one-time checks. Real-time visibility, continuous verification, and integrated data intelligence create a system that proactively monitors and mitigates risk.

Organizations can see issues as they arise, make informed decisions immediately, and reduce reliance on retrospective compliance reports. The result is a safer, more efficient, and more confident workforce management process.