What is Impact Hiring?

Impact Hiring is an initiative to engage employers to increase job opportunities for disadvantaged workers. Disadvantaged workers can include veterans, women, minorities, and individuals with challenged backgrounds. 

 

The Facts

Companies are understandably concerned about the safety of their workers and customers as well as their own assets and public image. But today, many HR professionals are finding that the best approach to hiring individuals with criminal backgrounds is not so different from the one they use for everyone else: to evaluate each candidate on his or her merits and talents.

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• 1 in 3 adults (or 75 million Americans) have a criminal record.

• 75% of formerly incarcerated individuals will remain unemployed a year after release. The single most important predictor in recidivism is joblessness. 

• Women who do not bargain offered salary lose $750,000 to $2 million over their careers. Conversely, women are penalized for negotiating while men are rewarded for the same behavior.

• Companies with the most ethnically/culturally diverse boards worldwide are 43% more likely to experience higher profits. (McKinsey & Company)

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“Our formerly incarcerated employees aren't just 'non-problems.' They're role models in terms of performance, attendance and teamwork. They have an especially strong incentive to deliver value because they've seen the alternative, and in the overwhelming majority of cases, they deliver.”

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— Gretchen Peterson, CHRO, Dave’s Killer Bread

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