Employees receptive to co-workers with criminal records, study says

More employees are receptive to working beside people with criminal backgrounds, according to joint surveys by SHRM and the Charles Koch Institute. Research showed that HR professionals aren't finding any difference between the performance of people with criminal records and that of other workers; two-thirds of managers and HR professionals said their organizations have hired people with criminal backgrounds. About 82% of managers and 67% of HR professionals said the quality of work done by employees with criminal records was on par with or better than other workers. Additionally, the cost-per-hire between the formerly incarcerated and other workers is similar, according to HR professionals. Some ambivalence about hiring people with criminal records emerged in the survey results, as well, with 41% of managers and 47% of HR professionals saying they're neither willing nor unwilling to hire them.