What is second chance hiring?

second chance hiring (noun)

An employment practice whereby an employer hires someone who has a criminal record.

At a time when labor shortages are threatening critical industries like health services and manufacturing, access to an able and loyal workforce with a high retention rate might sound improbable. But for companies that have embraced second chance hiring, it’s business as usual.

“Employers need workers,” said MIT Sloan Professor Emeritus Paul Osterman. “Second chance programs are not charity: They are good business, and they work.”

In a 2024 interview with MIT Sloan Ideas Made to Matter, Peter Quigley, of Kelly Services, shared that there are currently 1,000 second chance workers on assignment for the professional staffing organization. According to 2023 figures from Kelly, clients with a second chance hiring practice in place had fill rates that were 25% higher and turnover that was 2.7% lower than clients without such a program.

“These employees are hardworking, they’re loyal, [and] they’re appreciative of the fact that they got a second chance,” Quigley said. “It’s good business, and it also has the benefit of being the right thing to do” at a time when 77 million people — 1 in 3 U.S. adults — have a criminal record.

The bottom-line benefits of second chance hiring