BridgeWorks
For years, the case for hiring people with a record was made mostly on moral grounds, and that is a fine place to start. But the argument that is actually changing employers' minds right now is a different one, and it is showing up in manufacturing first: second-chance hiring works as a business strategy. Not in spite of the workforce shortage — because of it.
What is driving the shift
Manufacturers are short on people, and have been for a while. As the National Association of Manufacturers and the Manufacturing Institute have both documented, the sector cannot fill the roles it has open, and the gap is not closing on its own. Faced with that, a growing number of manufacturers have stopped treating a criminal record as an automatic disqualifier and started treating second-chance hiring as a practical way to reach talent that everyone else is screening out.
The most persuasive part is the retention data. The Manufacturing Institute has highlighted employers like JBM Packaging, where second-chance hires now make up close to half the workforce — around 46 percent — and turnover sits in the neighborhood of 13 to 14 percent, well below the manufacturing industry average. That is the number that ends the debate in a operations meeting. Turnover is expensive. A hiring pool that stays is worth real money.
Why retention runs high
This surprises people who have not done the hiring, so it is worth explaining. When someone has worked hard to earn a second chance — completed a program, cleared the hurdles, proven they are ready — and an employer takes that chance on them, the relationship that forms is different. The job is not just a paycheck; it is the thing that confirms the turnaround is real. Loyalty follows. Our own placement experience says the same thing: participants who land a job after reentry tend to hold onto it, because they understand better than anyone what it cost to get.
What it takes to do it well
Second-chance hiring is not "lower your standards and hope." The employers who succeed at it do a few things deliberately:
- Individualized assessment, not blanket bans. They look at what the record actually is, how long ago, and its relevance to the job — rather than auto-rejecting on a checkbox.
- A real onboarding ramp. Someone returning to work after years away benefits from clear expectations and a point of contact, the same as any new hire learning a new floor.
- A partner that screens for readiness. This is where an organization like ours earns its keep. We are not sending employers a name off a list. We are sending someone who has completed training, demonstrated reliability, and is ready for the specific role.
Where we fit
We exist to stand in exactly this gap — between an employer who needs workers and a worker who needs a chance, neither of whom can quite reach the other on their own. The encouraging thing about the current moment is that the business case and the human case have stopped pulling in different directions. The manufacturers leaning into second-chance hiring are not doing charity. They are solving a workforce problem, and in the process they are changing lives. If you are an employer reading this and wondering whether it could work for you, the retention numbers are a good place to start the conversation. We are happy to have it.
