Today marks the date when my new book Redemption Inc is available in paperback. I’m so grateful to so many folks for this, but especially to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the motivation for my work and He is source of my joy and inspires me to write about His great redemption (Titus 2:11-14). Please pray with me that I can get out of the way and let the Lord be seen in the promoting of and the reading of this work.
Our church – Grace River Church in VA Beach – has chosen to purchase a number of copies of the book to make them available to people in the congregation on August 14th when I come to speak there. I think this is a great model, and I would be happy to do that in your church if your pastor was interested. Tell him I will pay my own way, if they will instead of giving an honorarium buy copies of the book and make them available to members of the congregation. Then we can have a book signing after the service and rejoice in the work God is doing in people’s lives! They could contact me to order bulk copies.
Just this past weekend an article in CNBC reported that a growing number of companies are starting to pay attention to this excluded section of the population: those with criminal records. We have been writing about this for some time, trying to make people aware that there are talent pools available outside of the normal approach. If hiring was from a bell-shaped curve, we would all be able to take a group of applicants and drill down to the best one of the bunch. But research suggests that up to 75% of employees demonstrate some level of aberrant behavior on the job, from absences, latenesses, and minor infractions all the way up to excessive behavior. The point is, there is no perfect applicant. But there are a group of people who desire to find work, and from whom work becomes a lifeline for pursuing one’s calling and changing one’s destiny. See the article here – https://www-cnbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/07/23/americans-with-criminal-records-are-in-demand-in-the-job-market.html
I am grateful and excited for this recognition of the opportunity to consider the hiring of people who have been through a redemption intervention, or those looking for a second chance. I am also excited that this research shows that individuals with criminal records perform the same as, or better than, employees without criminal records; and that these employees have lower turnover and stronger loyalty to their employers, an incredibly attractive quality amid what is being called “The Great Resignation.” This aligns with the message of the book, Redemption Inc. I am grateful that the Lord is providing a path to support the message, and hope this results in changed lives for many people!
But it is important to recognize, as we highlight in the book, that showing kindness by offering a second chance to any recovering individual or a reclaimed former prisoner is not a simple task. As it states in the abstract for Chapter 10, “Neither success, nor failure nor restoration are simply a matter of flipping a switch. It takes the dedication of [therapists or coaches – and employers], as well as the affected individuals to rigorously work to identify those hidden demons and learn new behavior patterns, so as not to respond to negativity or failure same way as in the past.”
Here is one example drawn from information contained in the CNBC article: When Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield identified these prisoners from this Tech entrepreneurship program for talented coders, he quickly realized that there was no path to full-time employment for them. It was 2 years later that Slack responded by starting this program “Next Chapter” and working with other tech companies to support the recruiting of these former inmates by helping them to become coders. Butterfield made this Insight in 2016, and 2 years later Next Chapter was started. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, let’s say 2019 the program got off the ground. The article says that considering all of the months of apprenticeship and coaching that are provided, as of this date (so 3 years later), 31 formerly incarcerated people have been hired to full-time Tech positions. So if you’re doing the math, that’s about 10 per year. We don’t know out of how many, but we do know that it is a great challenge and not everyone will be successful. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth the effort. We just have to be realistic about the effort and the results. There are no quick fixes to this problem.
Just as there is the fallacy of overnight success: that people can suddenly hit it rich or become optimized in their particular field, there should be a similar fallacy when it comes to the overnight restoration. Just like success takes years to build towards, restoration through therapy and interventions sometimes takes repeated tries and is not automatic. Yet we should not write off individuals who failed spectacularly, nor dismiss any effort they make to seek restoration. They just may need ongoing support and help to optimize their potential. We rejoice that these courageous businesses have started to move in this direction!
Caminiti, S. (2022, July 23). JPMorgan, Microsoft and Slack among companies hiring the formerly incarcerated. CNBC Technology Executive Council [Web Blog]. Retrieved from https://www-cnbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/07/23/americans-with-criminal-records-are-in-demand-in-the-job-market.html.
