Fair Chance Hiring Toolkit

INTRODUCTION For any company, there are a variety of factors that impact their bottom line—sales, inflation, the political climate, the economy and even the availability of great workers. One of the biggest challenges facing businesses is a shortage of talent. While many businesses are beginning to recover from 2020 and there have been some major shifts in the job market, it still appears that availability of talent will be an emerging issue for some sectors of our regional economy. Between 2021 and 2035, the biggest group of working-age adults—those born in the U.S. whose parents were born in the U.S.—is expected to drop by 8% or 8.2 million workers according to PEW Research 1 . In the Greater Oklahoma City region, companies created 23,000 jobs between 2010 and 2017. During that same time, workforce participation decreased by 9,000 people. For our regional economy to continue to grow, we must continue to find new streams of talent to supply the demands of our regional companies. Finding good talent impacts your bottom line. A 2018 report by the Work Institute estimates that the average turnover costs associated with an employee leaving is 33% of their salary. 2 With the high cost of turnover and the growing need for talent in some sectors, some employers are now considering communities with potential barriers to employment that may have been overlooked in the past, including those who have a criminal background. Why should an employer consider hiring someone with a criminal background? An ACLU study suggests that compared to the general workforce, justice-involved individuals have lower turnover rates, lower absenteeism,

higher retention rates and higher loyalty 3. The resulting lower training and turnover costs allows your business to continue to grow and be successful. The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber strives to see Oklahoma City continue to become the home of ample, diverse talent and economic opportunity for all. Assisting employers by helping them to expand their potential talent opportunities is one way that we are working to achieve that goal. IMPLICATIONS & GUIDELINES Making the decision to be a fair-chance employer and hire justice-involved individuals is a significant step which requires careful reflection and understanding to ensure that your company has a solid understanding of the impact this decision will have. To ensure that you have all the facts before you begin, we’ve outlined some important legal and ethical implications that must be considered and properly implemented, to maximize the outcomes for both employer and those that you may hire from a justice- involved background. This toolkit is meant to serve as a resource and is not a substitute for legal advice when considering fair-chance or other hiring practices. You are encouraged to seek legal counsel to discuss specific situations and circumstances. 1 http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/03/08/ immigration-projected-to-drive-growth-in-u-s-working-age- population-through-at-least-2035/ 2 http://www.workinstitute.com/retentionreport20183 https:// www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/060917-trone- reportweb_0.pdf

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