Fair Chance Employment: Why Smart Businesses Are Hiring Justice-Impacted Talent

With millions sidelined by past convictions, Fair Chance Employment is how smart businesses are tapping into a powerful, overlooked talent pool.

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In today’s tight labor market, companies are urgently seeking loyal, skilled, purpose-driven talent. Yet over 77 million Americans with records remain overlooked—even as 1.3 million actively search for work. This exclusion carries a heavy price, costing the U.S. economy an estimated $80 billion each year.
Fortunately, Fair Chance Employment is shifting that narrative.

With a growing number of organizations adopting inclusive hiring practices, the data is clear. Fair Chance Employment expands diversity, boosts performance, and helps rebuild lives. This article will guide you on how to get started.

What Is Fair Chance Employment?

Fair Chance Employment promotes hiring practices that give people with conviction or arrest records a fair opportunity to compete for jobs based on their skills and qualifications—not their past.

These policies reflect the belief that people who have served their time deserve access to employment opportunities. Providing those opportunities can transform entire communities and reduce prison recidivism.

Federal laws like the Fair Chance to Compete Act bar federal employers from asking about criminal history before job offers. Many states and cities have followed suit with “Ban the Box” laws that delay background checks. These laws require individualized assessments before rejecting candidates based on their records.

Research and real-world results continue to show that Fair Chance Employment is a strong strategy for businesses. Companies that hire justice-impacted individuals report higher retention, increased loyalty, and lower turnover rates. In fact, justice-impacted hires are 13% less likely to leave their roles. Research has also found that HR satisfaction with these hires reaches as high as 83%.

Why Fair Chance Employment Is Good for Business

1. Improved Organizational Culture

Fair Chance hiring also improves organizational culture. Hiring managers often describe how bringing justice-impacted talent into their workforce prompted more empathy, inclusion, and mission alignment across teams. 

At the Indiana Pacers, hiring TLM alum Billie Edison helped reshape how the organization viewed nontraditional candidates. Pultiple departments at the Pacers participated in internal collaboration to support her success. “I’ve interviewed thousands of people,” said Lauren McMullen, Director of Talent Acquisition of the Indiana Pacers. “Billie Edison, A TLM Alumni, gave one of the best interviews I’ve ever had. She brought honesty, passion, and purpose into the room. She changed the way I think about hiring.”

These justice-impacted hires helped to challenge bias, strengthen team dynamics, and demonstrate how values like accountability and transformation can manifest every day in the workplace. 

2. Larger, More Diverse Talent Pools

Fair Chance Hiring opens the door to a third of the U.S. adult population who otherwise might be excluded. Communities of color, LGBTQ individuals, and people with histories of trauma or poverty are disproportionately impacted by the criminal legal system, making Fair Chance policies a powerful lever for equity and diversity.

Fair Chance employers benefit from tapping into this motivated and often overlooked segment of the workforce. With 1.4 million job seekers searching for terms like “no background check” on Indeed in 2023 alone, the demand for Fair Chance Employment is already here– it’s up to the employers to meet the demand of this eager workforce.

3. Reduced Recidivism and Stronger Communities

Beyond workforce performance, Fair Chance Employment also delivers significant societal returns. Studies show that employment can reduce recidivism by up to 61%, creating safer communities and more stable households. 

Economically, the impact is just as powerful: Research has shown that employing 100 formerly incarcerated individuals can increase their lifetime earnings by $55 million and save more than $2 million annually in incarceration costs to the state. These outcomes ripple outward, driving tax revenue, local economic growth, and multigenerational opportunity, especially in historically marginalized communities.

How to Become a Fair Chance Employer

Becoming a Fair Chance employer is about bringing new intention, structure, and opportunity to your business. Here’s how to start:

1. Assess and Update Your Hiring Practices

The first step in becoming a Fair Chance employer is evaluating and adjusting your current hiring processes. Begin by removing conviction history questions from initial job applications, allowing candidates to be considered based on their skills and experience rather than their record. 

Ensure that background checks are only conducted after a conditional offer has been made, preventing premature disqualification. When records are considered,  hiring managers are required to conduct individualized assessments, which consider the nature of the offense, time passed, and relevance to the role, rather than applying blanket exclusions.

Finally, ensure your hiring practices align with your state’s Fair Chance laws. Doing so helps protect your organization from liability while reinforcing your commitment to equitable employment.

2. Use Human-Centered Language

In Fair Chance Employment, the words you choose can often reinforce a stigma against your applicants. Labels like “felon,” “ex-con,” or even “offender” reduce individuals to their past mistakes and carry heavy baggage that undermines confidence, dignity, and opportunity. Replacing them with terms like “justice-impacted talent” or “alumni” reflects a shift from punishment to potential—an approach that signals inclusion, not exclusion.

Employers serious about tapping into this talent pool must learn to speak the language of equity and growth. Human-centered language attracts a broader, more motivated candidate pool. Instead of job listings that say “must pass background check,” reframe with inclusive language like: “We value diverse experiences, including those who have had prior contact with the criminal legal system.” This approach signals not only legal compliance but also cultural readiness.

 3. Partner With Community-Based Organizations

Justice-impacted individuals often face layered barriers to employment – to address these realities, companies should partner with community-based organizations (CBOs) that prepare, support, and champion justice-impacted talent. At the center of this movement is The Last Mile, which equips incarcerated individuals with cutting-edge training along with reentry support and job placement services.

Organizations like the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) offer transitional work, coaching, and job placement while Creating Restorative Opportunities and Programs (CROP) provides career development, leadership training, and policy advocacy for returning citizens. To explore the robust network of reentry-focused organizations nationwide, visit the Second Chance Business Coalition’s Partner Directory. Whether you’re looking to fill a single role or scale a national hiring initiative, dozens of experienced, mission-aligned partners are ready to help integrate justice-impacted talent into your workforce.

4. Train Your Team

Fair Chance Hiring doesn’t work without informed and engaged teams. Hiring managers, recruiters, and HR leaders must be equipped with the proper knowledge and tools to implement these practices effectively and equitably. Fair Chance hiring means going beyond legal compliance to foster a culture of inclusion, transparency, and accountability.

Start by educating your team on the nuances of Fair Chance laws, including Ban the Box policies and individualized assessment requirements. Provide specific training on evaluating applicants with criminal records without bias, emphasizing context, rehabilitation, and relevance to the role—organizations like Legal Aid at Work offer accessible toolkits and legal guidance to help companies do this well.

Finally, reinforce your commitment at every level of the organization. Hiring one justice-impacted individual isn’t enough—Fair Chance must be embedded into your company’s culture, processes, and values to create lasting change.

Resources to Get Started

Here are 9 trusted tools, partners, and guides to help your organization implement or scale Fair Chance Employment:

1. The Last Mile (TLM)
   Provides a vetted talent pipeline of justice-impacted individuals in various industries. TLM is leading the national movement in remote learning and employment opportunities from within prisons.
   
2. Second Chance Business Coalition (SCBC)
   Offers best practices, employer case studies, and a national partner directory. SCBC helps companies develop second-chance hiring programs or expand on existing programs.
   
3. Envoy’s Fair Chance Employment Navigator
   An interactive tool that helps employers assess their current Fair Chance Hiring practices. Companies also receive a customized roadmap to become a Fair Chance employer.
   
4. JFF’s Fair Chance Hiring Cohort
   Connects employers with a peer network and technical assistance to adopt inclusive practices that improve employment outcomes for justice-impacted individuals.
   
5. SHRM Foundation – Getting Talent Back to Work Toolkit
   A practical resource hub for HR professionals, offering implementation guides, sample policies, and training modules tailored for second chance hiring.
   
6. Legal Aid at Work
   Delivers legal templates, training, and guidance to ensure compliance with Fair Chance and Ban the Box laws and to avoid discriminatory hiring practices.
   
7. National Employment Law Project (NELP)
   Publishes policy research and advocacy tools focused on employment rights for people with records, including guidance for creating equitable workplace practices.
   
8. Ban the Box Policy Map – National Employment Law Project
   A detailed state-by-state breakdown of Ban the Box and Fair Chance hiring laws to help you stay compliant while building inclusive practices.
   
9. Clean Slate Clearinghouse – CSG Justice Center
   Provides up-to-date information on record clearance policies in all 50 states, helping employers, legal advocates, and policymakers understand how expungement and sealing laws impact workforce access for justice-impacted individuals.

A Final Word

Fair Chance Employment is about building a workforce, company culture, and economy that values human potential. If your company believes in innovation, equity, and impact, it’s time to implement that belief. Become a Fair Chance employer – Your team, your bottom line, and your community will be better for it.

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By Robert Roche, VP of Marketing at The Last Mile.

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