SHRM President and Chief Executive Officer Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP, was among the featured panelists April 4 at a conference focused on the business case for second-chance hiring, hosted by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
The event in Philadelphia was convened by Wharton’s Coalition for Equity and Opportunity during Second Chance Month, as proclaimed by President Joe Biden. It featured speakers from leading corporations, advocacy organizations and business schools.
More than 70 million Americans have criminal histories, according to the Biden administration’s proclamation, which can make obtaining a steady job, safe housing, affordable health care or a good education difficult.
The second annual conference explored the practical steps that CHROs and other executives have taken to develop and implement supportive hiring and advancement practices.
Attendees heard about recent research and data that dispels common misconceptions regarding second-chance employment. Speakers discussed the work of state leaders and business schools in providing pathways to sustainable employment for people with criminal histories.
Finding workers with the talent organizations need is the most compelling case for second-chance hiring, Taylor said during the panel, which included Stacey Friedman, executive vice president and general counsel at JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Keilon Ratliff, chief diversity officer at Kelly, a staffing and recruitment firm.
“We have 8.9 million open jobs in America right now,” Taylor pointed out. “Employers are saying they can’t find the talent,” yet thousands of U.S. residents are annually released from incarceration. “I know how much our [SHRM] members spend globally trying to find the best talent. That, to me, is the most compelling argument” for second-chance hiring.
However, employees who don’t feel comfortable working with people after learning about their criminal histories is an obstacle for employers committed to second-chance hiring, he said.
“There are some easy hires and there’re some really tough ones,” Taylor acknowledged.
He recalled one organization where female employees were upset when he hired a man who had previously been convicted of sexual assault. Taylor met with them to talk about his hiring decision and to acknowledge their fears, but he remained unapologetic about the hire. The male employee was later promoted twice in three years.
“We have to walk the walk. … Let’s not hold these people to standards you don’t hold to other people,” Taylor said.
SHRM is a longtime proponent of second-chance hiring, which advocates hiring qualified individuals who have criminal records. In 2018, SHRM and the Charles Koch Institute launched groundbreaking research on people with criminal histories in the workforce. The two organizations later partnered on the 2021 Getting Talent Back to Work Report, the findings of which were based on a survey looking at hiring and working with people who have criminal histories.
SHRM and the SHRM Foundation are founding partners of the Second Chance Business Coalition, which promotes the hiring of formerly incarcerated individuals and provides employers with resources on hiring and advancing the careers of people who have criminal histories. The coalition was founded in April 2021.
Additionally, the SHRM Foundation offers a certificate in second-chance hiring through a 10-hour study program, as well as its broader effort called Realizing the Value of Untapped Talent. The 2021 SHRM Research/Charles Koch Institute report found 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.
Taylor encouraged employers to hire one previously incarcerated person as a first step. “We’ve seen this in history,” he pointed out, when people from other underrepresented groups have demonstrated the value they bring to their organization
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