Companies Give ‘Fair Chance Hiring’ a Shot

and growth of a business while also helping alleviate a nationwide labor shortage.

Ken Oliver, executive director of the Checkr Foundation, said at least 37 states had implemented policies to remove arrest record history questions from job applications and delay background checks until later in the hiring process.

“So, really looking to hire the best person for the job,” Oliver explained. “And removing the barrier of the record rather than looking at the record as the deciding factor for a candidate.”

Formerly incarcerated people are unemployed at a rate of more than 27%. Oliver noted that a bill under consideration in California would help improve the speed by banning most private employers from seeking a background check into a job candidate’s conviction history.

“So if a company posts a job on Indeed or LinkedIn, they now have to say these charges would preclude someone from applying for this particular job,” Oliver emphasized. “They couldn’t do it later after the fact.”

By Desert Star Staff

Employers are increasingly using what’s known as “fairchance hiring” to help the nearly 1 in 3 U.S. adults with criminal records gain access to living wage jobs. Advocates for formerly incarcerated people said they are a motivated and skilled pool of workers who can add to the diversity

Oliver argued that it is suitable for business and society. Before the pandemic, the estimated cost of employment losses among workers with criminal records was $65 billion per year in lost gross domestic product.

Oliver observed that companies are looking for new talent during the current labor shortage and improving their diversity and inclusion hiring practices. He added that employers are learning to “unpack” a candidate’s story and hire them not because of their record but because they are the best candidate for the job.