Research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) reveals that three-quarters of organisations would consider taking on ex-offenders – but think the government should provide help.
The kind of help requested is improving and raising awareness of the support available to employers plus equipping ex-offenders with more marketable job skills.
The survey – Employing ex-offenders to capture talent – shows that employers are most concerned about ex-offenders having soft workplace skills like honesty, reliability and good personal behavioural skills, not just basic numerical, literacy and technical job skills.
Dianah Worman, CIPD diversity adviser, said: “Ex-offenders are a largely unused pool of talent which employers could access as a way of helping to reduce skills shortages.
“Getting involved in the rehabilitation of ex-offenders through corporate social responsibility initiatives will help to create economically successful communities in which individuals and businesses can benefit.
“While improving the employability of ex-offenders through training is accepted as key to the rehabilitation of offenders, the government need to ensure training meets the needs of employers, improve the communication about support available for employers and work with the media to change stereotypes about ex-offenders.
“The survey finds employers are more likely to offer jobs to ex-offenders who have gone straight for at least two years while relatively few offer jobs to ex-offenders either directly from prison or offenders under probation service supervision.
“Nevertheless, one in ten say that they would consider offering jobs to offenders under license or supervision and a further three-fifths of organisations say they that this is something they would consider if they had more information and support.
“This underlines the need for a national communication strategy to influence and inform employers’ perceptions about the potential benefits of employing ex-offenders. The government needs to take a lead on this, as getting a job is the single most important factor in reducing re-offending.”
Findings from the report include:
- UK organisations are four times more likely to report a positive experience when employing an ex-offender than a negative one and around four-fifths of these say that ex-offenders settle into work well with colleagues, perform well and are reliable
- Three-quarters of employers indicate that they would consider employing ex-offenders if they had the relevant skills that fit the needs of the organisation.
- 53 per cent of organisations report experience of employing ex-offenders, with the voluntary sector having the greatest involvement (75 per cent), followed by the public sector (71 per cent), with the private sector lagging behind at 34 per cent.
- The most important skills and qualities when considering employing ex-offenders are honesty (92 per cent), reliability (89 per cent) and personal behaviour (84 per cent). Relevant job skills are seen as being the most critical in the public services (68 per cent) and least important in the manufacturing and production sector (28 per cent)
- 46 per cent of organisations say that an employer support service for employing ex-offenders would be valuable to them
- Only a third of organisations are aware of programmes provided to support the rehabilitation of offenders in prison or those who are under the supervision of the probation service
- While only eight per cent of organisations with experience of employing ex-offenders choose to promote this through the media, 65 per cent of those organisations that had promoted employing ex-offenders said it had delivered a positive impact on their corporate reputation.