lakesregionscapes
03-15-2007, 01:33 PM
Would you/have you rehired someone on work-release, that you know from prior experience?
Specific example: A kid who worked for us last summer was an adequate worker, who'd never set records for speed, and had rather weak performance during cleanups, but he knew the mowing route and routine, could be sent out independently, and never earned complaints from customers. Frequently 15 minutes late, but never actually missed work without prior notice.
Did a stupid teenager thing 3-4 years ago (was caught in possession of a stolen firearm - a .22 "from a friend") and after years of delays and postponements, he got stuck with 8 months time, work release after 6 months...
He called last week to see if he could get his job back: available 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, can drive (needs to arrange for a ride - has it figured out), starting anytime (we still have snow).
My concern is what effect could it have on our company/customer base, and has anyone tried this before. Bottom line is "felon on work-release". We're not worried about theft, or customer security (no bigger a risk than most hiring prospects around here), but the reaction IF customers found out. We deal with lots of retirees and summer residents, mostly middle class, only a couple big bucks property owners. Most of the customer's know him.
We had one guy years ago who's wife used to run criminal record checks on the contractors working for him: we were told not to bring one specific enployee ever to that property. I am not aware of any particularily paranoid folks currently on our list though.
At the time the available labor pool is weak, I'd expect a full half of the applicants have something they'd prefer not to share: mostly prior drug or alcohol issues, straightening out after losing licence, etc. A few have proven to be good workers, many leave/get canned after a short period... Most are still pretty young. We end up with 2-3 guys on payroll most of the season.
Specific example: A kid who worked for us last summer was an adequate worker, who'd never set records for speed, and had rather weak performance during cleanups, but he knew the mowing route and routine, could be sent out independently, and never earned complaints from customers. Frequently 15 minutes late, but never actually missed work without prior notice.
Did a stupid teenager thing 3-4 years ago (was caught in possession of a stolen firearm - a .22 "from a friend") and after years of delays and postponements, he got stuck with 8 months time, work release after 6 months...
He called last week to see if he could get his job back: available 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, can drive (needs to arrange for a ride - has it figured out), starting anytime (we still have snow).
My concern is what effect could it have on our company/customer base, and has anyone tried this before. Bottom line is "felon on work-release". We're not worried about theft, or customer security (no bigger a risk than most hiring prospects around here), but the reaction IF customers found out. We deal with lots of retirees and summer residents, mostly middle class, only a couple big bucks property owners. Most of the customer's know him.
We had one guy years ago who's wife used to run criminal record checks on the contractors working for him: we were told not to bring one specific enployee ever to that property. I am not aware of any particularily paranoid folks currently on our list though.
At the time the available labor pool is weak, I'd expect a full half of the applicants have something they'd prefer not to share: mostly prior drug or alcohol issues, straightening out after losing licence, etc. A few have proven to be good workers, many leave/get canned after a short period... Most are still pretty young. We end up with 2-3 guys on payroll most of the season.