What hiring an individual who served 20 years in prison taught us about workplace loyalty
Employers across the nation are voicing the same concern: loyalty is harder to come by. Turnover feels relentless. Training costs keep increasing. Teams lack the stability they once had.
What often remains unspoken is the quieter truth underlying these complaints.
Many employers are systematically excluding some of the most loyal workers available. Millions of capable job seekers are automatically screened out simply because they have a criminal record. Meanwhile, companies claim they cannot find reliable employees. These two realities cannot both hold true.
We approach this issue from opposing sides of the same system, yet now we sit together at the same table.
One of us spent decades as a correctional warden, responsible for staffing secure facilities and striving to help people return home better prepared for work and community life than when they arrived. The other served decades in the federal prison system, sentenced to 213 years for armed robberies committed in his early 20s, and now works as an executive at Social Purpose Corrections, collaborating with employers and correctional leaders on workforce development and reentry success.
From our vastly different perspectives, we’ve learned that the labor shortage many employers describe is often self-inflicted.
Inside prisons, we witnessed men and women show up daily for demanding jobs, complete challenging programs, earn degrees, and hold themselves to high standards in environments that would overwhelm many employees in the free world. The talent was there. The discipline was there. The loyalty was there.
What was missing was access.
When people return home, many never get past automated screening systems—not due to lack of skill or work ethic, but because of a single checkbox. Opportunities close before conversations even start. Over time, this exclusion doesn’t just limit individual opportunity; it limits the available workforce for employers.
This isn’t a feel-good argument. It’s backed by evidence.
Research cited by the Society for Human Resource Management has found that employees with criminal records perform as well as, and in some cases better than, their peers. A peer-reviewed study published in the IZA Journal of Labor Policy found that in several job categories, workers with criminal records had longer tenures and lower voluntary turnover rates than those without records.
In a labor market defined by high turnover, loyalty isn’t just a sentiment—it’s a business necessity.
Employers often cite risk as their hesitation: risk to company culture, risk of liability, risk to brand reputation. These concerns are valid. What’s less acknowledged is the cost of constant turnover, understaffed operations, and teams that never stay long enough to fully contribute.
From our current vantage point, we see three key things companies overlook when they automatically filter out applicants with criminal records.
First, retention potential. People who finally get a meaningful opportunity after years of closed doors don’t take it lightly. They fight to keep it.
Second, cultural message. When a company hires someone who’s had to earn trust through struggle, it signals to the entire workforce that growth is possible here and that people aren’t disposable.
Third, problem-solving expertise. Those who have survived and transformed in prison have spent years managing scarcity, conflict, and high-stakes decisions. That’s not a liability—it’s an asset.
Fair chance hiring isn’t about lowering standards. It’s about applying standards intentionally. Background checks still matter. Performance still matters. Accountability still matters. What changes is the assumption that a past conviction permanently defines someone’s workplace value.
At Social Purpose Corrections, where we both work today, fair chance hiring isn’t a slogan—it’s daily practice. People are hired with clear expectations, measurable outcomes, and accountability, just like anywhere else. This approach has reinforced what the data already suggests: when people are trusted with responsibility, many rise to meet it.
Across the country, employers are proving this principle.
Awake Window and Door Co., an Arizona-based manufacturer, built its business from the start as a fair chance employer. More than half its workforce is formerly incarcerated, and the company has grown while maintaining a stable, committed team. This isn’t charity—it’s a business decision focused on retention.
There’s also a broader impact to recognize. Stable employment is widely recognized as one of the strongest predictors of reduced recidivism. When people leaving prison find meaningful work, families stabilize, communities become safer, and fewer return to incarceration. The same decisions that boost retention can also lower long-term social costs.
For business leaders unsure where to begin, the path doesn’t require blind faith—it requires deliberate experimentation.
Audit your hiring filters. Remove blanket exclusions that prevent qualified candidates from ever reaching a human decision-maker.
Pilot fair chance roles or locations. Start with one department or site. Set clear performance standards. Measure retention and turnover against your current benchmarks.
Partner with organizations that understand this workforce. Don’t wing it—work with groups that can help design policies, support employees, and prepare managers to lead with clarity and accountability.
None of this requires lowering the bar. It requires recognizing that loyalty and potential don’t vanish because of a line on an application.
Business leaders pride themselves on spotting opportunity where others see risk. Fair chance hiring remains one of the clearest opportunities to do exactly that.
Loyalty isn’t gone. The workforce isn’t broken.
We’re simply hiring past it.