With more than one million vacancies across the country, Starting Fresh, is a campaign by Sodexo to encourage businesses to employ more people with criminal convictions. The campaign is designed to help remove the perceived barriers associated with the employment of people with criminal convictions.
Businesses can access the Starting Fresh online hub, where they can find advice about how to access the underutilised workforce of people with criminal convictions and support those people in the workplace.
Sodexo is also using this campaign to let employers know they are welcome to visit prisons run by the company on behalf of the Ministry of Justice and Scottish Prison Service if they are interested in offering opportunities on release. Organisations with multiple job opportunities can even run employer days in the prisons. If you are not located near a Sodexo-run prison, the business will still be able to support you in connecting with your local prison or one of their partners.
Commenting on the campaign, Tony Simpson, Justice Operations Director at Sodexo said: “Concerns around hiring people with criminal convictions can often be attributed to not understanding the quality of learning which takes place in prison. Starting Fresh, is not just about helping employers understand the contribution people with criminal convictions can make to their business, but to also encourage them to proactively engage with our prisons and our partners to start the hiring process.
“Sodexo itself has committed to filling 5% of its own appropriate job opportunities with people with criminal convictions, and is a Ban the Box employer, meaning we don’t ask about criminal convictions at the application stage.
Interested in finding out more? Visit Starting Fresh now!