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<\/div>\nPeople with convictions face challenges getting into and progressing in work, but a mentoring scheme involving experienced HR professionals is helping rebuild their confidence. Ashleigh Webber reports<\/strong><\/p>\n Last year, the CIPD Trust \u2013 the arm of the HR body focused on supporting people who face greater challenges at work \u2013 began piloting a mentoring scheme that connects individuals with experience of the criminal justice system with HR professionals, to help break down some of the barriers people with convictions face.<\/p>\n The scheme, which was launched with social enterprises Offploy and St Giles Trust, sees people professionals with mentoring experienced paired with individuals with complementary motivations, skills or development needs, helping them to gain crucial workplace skills such as confidence and leadership.<\/p>\n Schemes such as this are likely to become especially valuable in light of government plans to encourage more companies to recruit former prisoners<\/a>, in order to tackle reoffending.<\/p>\n According to the Ministry of Justice, around one in four working age people in the UK have a conviction \u2013 a significant proportion of the workforce \u2013 and 86% of employers of people with convictions rate them as good at their job, with higher levels of retention and loyalty.<\/p>\n However, according to Sally Eley, head of the CIPD Trust, the benefits of the project extend far beyond supporting the people with convictions themselves; she believes HR professionals can also learn from people with the lived experience of the justice system and use this knowledge to transform their people policies and embrace more inclusive recruitment methods.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we can do something about this, we\u2019re not only supporting individuals but we\u2019re supporting those bigger socioeconomic problems as well; the cost of reoffending is estimated at \u00a318bn a year,\u201d she tells Personnel Today.<\/p>\n \u201cOrganisations like Offploy and St Giles Trust really understand the barriers and specific challenges that people with convictions face. They\u2019ve been sourcing the mentees who are ready to take a step into work, or who are already in work and are ready to progress.\u201d<\/p>\n The project was initially piloted with around a dozen people. Following a call to action from its members, the CIPD Trust received significant interest from people wanting to volunteer their time and knowledge to support people facing barriers to work because of their past convictions.<\/p>\n Interested mentors were screened to ensure they had the desired experience, as Sally points out that the scheme required people professionals who had already acted as mentors before.<\/p>\n Mentee Heather, who is now a team leader and employment adviser for Offploy, was matched with Jane Walton, a long-time CIPD member with an L&D background who now runs a mentoring business in Yorkshire.<\/p>\n Without the mentoring, I probably wouldn\u2019t have had the courage or the confidence to go for that interview\u201d \u2013 Heather, mentee<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Heather was put forward for the programme by her manager, but she agreed that mentoring would be beneficial to develop her ideas and skills.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of us in our professional lives can lose a grip on our confidence, our time management, or whatever challenges we might face, so I thought I would try to build those [skills] up,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore the process began, I didn\u2019t have the goal of becoming the team leader I am today. That opportunity came up about halfway through the programme with Jane, and I realised I had to go for it. Without the mentoring, I probably wouldn\u2019t have had the courage or the confidence to go for that interview.\u201d<\/p>\n Jane applied to be a mentor because she wanted to gain experience of working with women who have experienced the criminal justice system.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been mentoring for a number of years, but I\u2019m always looking for new opportunities to develop my skills and my experience, because every mentoring relationship is different and I constantly need to develop,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cHeather and I worked quite intensively for about six months, and we covered a lot of ground quite quickly because we both wanted to learn from each other.\u201d<\/p>\n Jane said her main role in the process was to be a listener and ask crucial questions to bring out Heather\u2019s motivations and goals.<\/p>\n \u201cInterestingly, we found that you have to go beyond working life \u2013 you have to consider any other influencers and aspects of [the mentee\u2019s] life that are going to impact their professional life,\u201d Jane says. \u201cWe followed a very clear mentoring structure, but there had to be flexibility around what we talked about.\u201d<\/p>\n Every mentoring relationship is different and I constantly need to develop\u201d \u2013 Jane, mentor<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The process also encouraged Heather to consider her strengths and to set goals with clear actions for achieving them.<\/p>\n \u201cOur conversations considered my lived experience, what makes me happy, what skills I have, what skills I needed to improve on and what makes me feel fulfilled,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cProfessionally I have a better understanding of the team leader I am because of how I view myself now.\u201d<\/p>\n Since completing the mentoring programme, Heather has begun a leadership course and spoken about her lived experience as a woman with a conviction at an event to mark Offploy\u2019s eighth birthday in the House of Commons \u2013 something she says she would not have had the confidence to do had she not received mentoring.<\/p>\n She encouraged people considering mentoring to have a good idea what they want to get out of the process before they begin. \u201cMentors are mentors, not mind readers,\u201d Heather says.<\/p>\n The CIPD Trust\u2019s Sally Eley judged the pilot to be a success, and says it plans to continue running the mentoring scheme<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are so many people who have been affected by the criminal justice system; and this isn\u2019t just individuals, it\u2019s their families too,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hear a lot of people who have been through this say that just having somebody to listen to what their issues are has really helped build their confidence.\u201d<\/p>\nHR professionals step up<\/h2>\n
\nDeveloping skills<\/h2>\n
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