Here are some myths you may have heard about offenders – and the facts which make up the real truth. For more information, please contact
0161 233 2684 or e-mail
info@worksolutions.org.uk
MYTH
Offenders can’t be trusted at work. It’s too much of a risk to employ them.
FACT
This is not borne out by reality: less than one in every 200 offences are committed at work. Formal policies and procedures should also act to minimise risk.
MYTH
Offenders are unreliable and won’t do the work.
FACT
That’s not what employers say! In fact, research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) suggests the opposite may be true.
Their survey of hundreds of employers found companies were four times more likely to report a positive experience of working with offenders than a negative one. One in five surveyed also said that their experience of working with ex-offenders was ‘better than expected’.
MYTH
Companies who employ ex-offenders suffer damage to their reputation and negative media coverage.
FACT
There are always scare stories, but CIPD research suggests that working with offenders can enhance a company’s reputation if linked to corporate social responsibility or equality and diversity policies. Their activity with offenders can allow them to demonstrate fairness, community spirit and equality, which can generate positive media coverage. Some of the biggest and best known names in British business, including Marks and Spencer, National Grid and Northern Foods, have successful records in employing offenders without suffering any damage to their reputations.
MYTH
There’s no point in hiring someone who’s broken the law: once a criminal, always a criminal.
FACT
Anyone who believes this could be ruling out hiring a huge proportion of those who are able to work. Up to 30 per cent of all men have a conviction by the time they are aged 30 and more than five million Britons have criminal records. Government statistics also show that the majority of offenders are convicted only once, and those who have not offended for two years are no more likely to do so than people without a criminal record. More importantly still, the Government’s green paper, ‘reducing re-offending through skills and work’, suggests that employment and training is one of the most effective ways of ensuring that offenders do not return to crime.
So, contrary to the myth, the facts are quite clear: employment works for offenders and
ex-offenders.
|
