Billionaire Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Group, has sought to conquer the record industry, circumnavigate the globe by balloon, and introduce commercial space travel. Now Branson is urging the leaders of his 400 global companies to consider hiring formerly incarcerated applicants.In a recent article in the Guardian, Branson talks about his decision to actively pursue formerly incarcerated individuals as employees after spending a day in an Australian prison two years ago:
As soon as I got back to England, I contacted the MDs of Virgin companies and said to them that we must . . . try to take on as many ex-convicts as possible," he recalls.
How did they respond? "Generally positive," he says. "I think that people at Virgin appreciate the fact that we are an understanding company. I had one or two negative comments on Twitter, but nothing that concerned me. One of the prisoners I met in Melbourne told me he'd been released with no money. He had to find his own way to the city. He was thrown back out into this world with no help whatsoever. The end result was that he was back inside in a very short time. For people coming out of prison it's a vicious circle. If they can't get a job, the only thing they can do is reoffend. From society's point of view that can be very painful."
Virgin has worked with Working Chance to hire formerly incarcerated women (they also hire men) and so far the results have been encouraging:
[Jocelyn] Hillman, who founded Working Chance four years ago, was being interviewed by a newspaper about her work. "I said: 'We need someone like Richard Branson to get involved'," she explains. "He read the cuttings and got in touch with us. He said: 'How can I help?'"
Working Chance has successfully placed 173 female ex-prisoners with companies, including Pret a Manger, Sainsbury's and Virgin. Their reoffending rate is less than 5% compared with the general rate of about two-thirds of all adults released from prison, who are reconvicted within two years of being discharged. "We have a number of women working for Virgin Management," says Hillman. "One was taken on only last week. All are doing really, really well."
Branson has also made a push to encourage other companies to join him in hiring ex-offenders.
He explained why he has this mindset:
"One of the reasons perhaps that I'm more understanding than some people is that if I go back to my teenage years when I marched on the American embassy trying to stop the Vietnamese war, I was running from the police wielding batons."
For one of the wealthiest people in the UK it comes down to this:
"Everybody deserves a second chance.."
Thank you! This is seriously wonderful! i wish there were more people like this in the world.
ReplyDeletesincerely, an ex-convict, newly unemployed single mother that also attends college!
thank you for your compassion and your heart i am a 5 time felon that finally turned her life around it took me 25 years to finally "get it" i have been out a little over a year and am free in more ways than the physical i live in texas and am hoping that the ones here will get a little of the compassion you have hearing and reading this has gave me a little more hope thank you.....
ReplyDeleteHere is a formerly incarcerated individual.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dkoch.net/media/print/DAVE_KOCH_CV.pdf
http://www.selfreinvention.org
I did time a few decades ago. After selling my company early 2003, I began looking into the organizations that purported to help people achieve the kind of goals I had achieved post incarceration. I was profoundly disappointed with the community organizations that have no results based accountability, no earned income strategies, that have no genuine goals or objectives beyond securing the next available government or foundation grant, and that purport to effectively serve a constituency but in reality, it is only window dressing to perpetuate the grants funded trough from which they feed themselves. How do we contact Mr. Branson so he does not begin funding all of those organizations that have contributed to a recidivism rate of 70%? www.selfreinvention.org/media/DAVE_KOCH_CV.pdf - Visit: www.self-reinvention.org
ReplyDeleteI too am a former prisoner who is striving for success. After serving 10 years Ive published two books, spoken at numerous events, facilitated workshops and am in college studying for my Masters. All of this in less than two years on the streets. Please follow me on Facebook and Twitter and please show your support
ReplyDeleteEmployment is imperative for the ex-offender to survive and circumvent recidivism that would eventually be the epilogue of an unemployed ex-offender.
ReplyDelete