Why Business Leaders Prioritize Second-Chance Hiring to Compete for Talent
When updating your organization’s hiring practices, it helps to seek guidance from experienced business leaders. This is particularly true when you're considering implementing a Second Chance Hiring program aimed at intentionally attracting, recruiting, and hiring justice-impacted talent.
The fact is that Second Chance Hiring offers many surprising advantages for businesses. Employees with criminal records are often talented, hard-working, and eager to invest in employers that invest in them.
But don't just take our word for it — listen to the insights of seasoned business leaders who’ve experienced these benefits firsthand.
In honor of Second Chance Month, here are eight compelling reasons, offered by employers who’ve found success through Second Chance Hiring, for why you should start welcoming individuals with criminal records into your workforce.
Second Chance Hiring is Resourceful
Drew Patterson
Basic Industries
Labor shortages continue to pose challenges for many industries. As businesses struggle to find quality talent, Second Chance Hiring emerges as a creative strategy for tapping into a new labor pool.
This was the experience of Basic Industries, a lumber remanufacturing company that turned to Second Chance Hiring during a labor shortage in their home state of Colorado. Owner Drew Patterson says:
“In our town alone, men coming from BVCC (Buena Vista Correctional Complex) are filling jobs that would otherwise be vacant in construction, tourism and service, and manufacturing. This is relieving some of the tremendous stress on local resources, and several of my fellow business owners have shared that hiring formerly incarcerated individuals has saved their businesses from closing.”
Second Chance Hiring is Forward-Thinking
Keilon Ratliff
Kelly
Talent retention is another major concern for today’s employers. Turnover rates are up nationally, a shift that proves expensive for businesses. Some estimates place the cost of replacing an hourly employee in the range $10,000.
Employees who are justice-impacted prove to be an exception to today’s high-turnover trend, maintaining longer job tenures on average than their peers without criminal records. Hiring these individuals is a forward-thinking investment – a way to reverse high turnover rates, save on recruitment and onboarding costs, and invest in upskilling a loyal and future-oriented workforce.
“Talent is hard to find and difficult to retain,” says Keilon Ratliff, Chief Diversity Officer at Kelly Services, a global office staffing company that launched a Second Chance Program called Kelly 33. “Second chance hiring is a solution to those challenges. Programs like Kelly 33 offer employers a way to connect with who will show up and keep showing up, appreciate the opportunity to work, complete the job well, and crush chronic turnover challenges.”
A 2021 survey by SHRM Research revealed that 85 percent of HR leaders and 81 percent of business leaders said second-chance hires perform the same as or better than other employees. Additional data shows that giving returning citizens a second chance can reduce employee turnover while boosting employment rates.
Second Chance Hiring is Proven
Michelle Cirocco
Televerde
Most businesses that start Second Chance Hiring stay in it for the long haul. It becomes core to their hiring practices, a time-tested strategy.
Televerde, a Phoenix-based sales and marketing technology organization, has been utilizing Second Chance Employment for over 30 years. Today, 70% of their global workforce is staffed by incarcerated women.
Michelle Cirocco, CEO of the Televerde Foundation, talks about the impact of their programs: “We provide incarcerated women with job training, education and opportunity that enables them to grow and have a better life. While they're here, they see hundreds of examples of women like me who were once where they are but have gone on to build thriving careers and successfully transition back into society thanks to this second chance.”
Cirocco herself is formerly incarcerated and proof that second chances matter. Her work with reentry services within the Televerde Foundation has transformed thousands of lives.
Second-Chance Hires are Dependable
Jackie Huebbe
SugarBot Sweet Shop
Businesses who implement Second Chance Hiring programs have found their employees with criminal records to be productive, adaptable, and eager to learn – critical qualities in today’s competitive labor market.
Jackie Huebbe, owner of SugarBot Sweet Shop, implemented Second Chance Hiring in 2019: “My experience with Second Chance Hiring has been that almost everyone is in the category where they enjoy the work. And while they might not be good at it right away, they’re always quick to learn and quick to pick it up.”
Businesses who invest in Second Chance employees continue to see these results, with a SHRM 2021 report citing that the quality of work and contributions for justice-impacted employees are “on par with or better than” other employees.
Second Chance Hiring is Scalable
Muhammad Abdul-Hadi
Down North Pizza:
Regardless of your business’s size, Second Chance Hiring is a viable solution for recruiting and retaining quality talent.
Take the North Philadelphia small business Down North Pizza. This mission-based pizzeria hires formerly incarcerated talent and connects them with resources for post-incarcerated life. Owner Muhammad Abdul-Hadi says “Since we opened in 2020, we’ve hired almost two dozen people. We’ve been together for four years, and not a single one has gone back to prison.”
At the same time, large employers like Ben & Jerry's (900+ employees), Indeed (14,000+ employees), and Georgia-Pacific (30,000+ employees) have also leveraged Second Chance Hiring with great success.
By embracing these practices, companies can not only fill critical roles but also positively impact their communities by tackling systemic issues such as recidivism and unemployment.
Second Chance Hiring is Strategic
Jeff Korzenik
Fifth Third Commercial Bank
Hiring individuals with diverse backgrounds and perspectives is really good for business, making them more innovative and profitable. According to a study of 200 teams from UK-based organization Cloverpop, diverse teams outperform individuals 87% of the time during business decision-making processes.
Recruiting diverse talent through a Second Chance Hiring Program will benefit companies in the long run, according to Jeff Korzenik, author and Chief Economist for Fifth Third Commercial Bank. Talking about the research from his book, Untapped Talent, he shared this insight: “Those that seize the opportunity to learn how to access this talent pool will have a decided competitive advantage over those that don’t. Demographics dictate that there is multi-decade war for talent ahead of us, and second chance hiring is part of a winning strategy.”
Second Chance Hiring is Transformative
Joseph Kenner
Greyston Bakery
The Center for American Progress reports that individuals who remain unemployed even two months after reentry are twice as likely to reoffend. This showcases how Second Chance Hiring doesn’t just benefit businesses – it creates a transformative ripple effect for returning citizens, their families, and entire communities.
“When we hire, we are not just hiring a person,” says Joseph Kenner, President and CEO of Greyston Bakery, which in 2021 delivered $14 million in economic impact between the people they hired and their inclusive employment work at Greyston Foundation. “We are extending a lifeline to the family connected to that person. We are providing a benefit to the community in which that person lives because that person is now earning a living, getting off public assistance, and avoiding the criminal justice system.”
Meaningful career opportunities have the power to set workers with criminal records on a path to achieve economic independence, reintegrate into their communities, and realize their full potential. Second Chance employers can take part in creating that transformative impact.
Second Chance Hiring is Seamless
Ken Oliver
Checkr.org
Second Chance Hiring shouldn’t be intimidating. There are countless resources – including RBIJ’s Second Chance Hiring Roadmap – to help businesses streamline the transition to hiring people with criminal records and supporting their reentry into the workforce.
Ken Oliver, Executive Director from Checkr.org, a background screening service, talks about how employers can find such resources for a robust Second Chance program.
“The best advice for employers is to partner with community based organizations or other businesses who have started Fair Chance Hiring programs. Checkr has a playbook that provides a roadmap, Dave’s Killer Bread has a cohort based workshop, SHRM has an online learning course. Once we truly educate ourselves about the issue it's about creating implementation plans and taking those first steps to making a social impact in people's lives.”
Businesses do not – and should not – have to figure this out alone. Getting connected with business-focused nonprofits like RBIJ and community-based organizations who can help provide social services to reentering citizens is a critical part of any successful Second Chance Hiring program.