"They really need this chance and can lift up communities when they get employment." "People of color are much more likely to be incarcerated than white people as a percentage of the population and this is a way to reach them," she said. Beth Whited, executive vice president of sustainability and strategy, said the railroad was drawn to the organization in large part because it aligns with her company's goal to have a more diverse and inclusive workforce. Union Pacific is among the companies participating in the Second Chance Business Coalition.
We can look at the barriers that exist among companies and figure out how are they precluding us from getting access to this talent." "We realized that we didn't have to wait for policymakers in Washington in order to have a meaningful impact in helping people re-enter the workforce. "Every one of the companies that's part of the Business Roundtable is responsible for hiring tons of Americans," Ball said. Stan Ball, vice president and chief litigation counsel at Eaton, said the organization was launched last year after the Business Roundtable, of which Eaton CEO Craig Arnold is a member, pledged to address the issue of workplace re-entry among the formerly incarcerated. The SCBC has a similar mission, but includes 42 companies from all sectors of the economy. To date, 31 formerly incarcerated people have been hired for full-time tech positions by the companies participating in Next Chapter's program. Managers, as well, are given special training on how best to support these new hires. Apprentices are paired with various coaches through Next Chapter to help them navigate not only the work, but the challenges that come with managing the responsibilities of life outside of prison. "Many of these folks have never had a white collar job so it's important that they are set up for success without slowing down the business," said Deepti Rohatgi, executvie director of Slack for Good. The first five months are considered an apprenticeship and include extensive coaching around not only the technical aspects of the job, but what it takes to make the transition from prison life to the workplace. Those that pass are then required to complete a three-month virtual coding boot camp administered by coding education program Hack Reactor before being matched with one of the participating companies. The formerly incarcerated men and women accepted into the program begin their journey to full-time employment with a test to gauge their aptitude for the tech field. There are now 14 tech companies participating in Next Chapter's network of hiring partners, including PayPal, Zoom, Dropbox, and Asana. Two years later, Slack started Next Chapter and began recruiting other tech companies to join the effort. He also saw that the majority of the prisoners were people of color and other minorities who were woefully underrepresented in the tech space. He quickly realized that while they were talented coders, there was no path to full-time tech employment once they were released.
He was there to meet a group of men learning to code through a tech entrepreneurship program at the prison called The Last Mile. In 2016, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield saw this problem first-hand when he visited San Quentin prison. Yet, for many companies, the stigma connected to those who have been arrested or who have served time in prison has prevented them from hiring or even interviewing these individuals. Further, the research shows they have lower turnover and stronger loyalty to their employers, an incredibly attractive quality amid rampant resignations. Research published by SCBC shows that 85% of human resources executives and 81% of business leaders report that individuals with criminal records perform the same as, or better than, employees without criminal records. Company partners include Best Buy, McDonald's, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Target, and Walmart. Its aim is to increase the number of companies offering job opportunities to individuals with criminal records, and to prove that doing so is not just good for society, but for the bottom line as well. The Second Chance Business Coalition (SCBC), spearheaded by JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Eaton CEO Craig Arnold, was formed last year in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder. Next Chapter, founded by messaging technology and Salesforce subsidiary Slack, focuses on helping those with criminal records get technical training and mentorship in order to build careers in the tech sector. But in recent years, a growing number of companies, driven by social justice reform as well as the intense struggle to find talent, are participating in formal programs to help these individuals re-enter the workforce.