Creating An Open And Honest Environment

The employer/employee relationship is based on trust and honesty. To create an open and honest environment in the selection process, it should be made clear that if applicants have a criminal conviction, only relevant convictions will be taken into account.

What is Relevant? Once information on convictions has been disclosed (on application or at the interview stage), the key judgement of relevance has to be made.

As with the assessment of the relevance of a health condition or disability, each judgement has to be made individually, bearing in mind the person's skills, experience and qualifications, the job applied for, and the nature of the offence.

The factors to take into account when making a judgement about relevance are mainly common sense. For instance, fraud may relate to work involving finance; some offences to do with theft may relate to handling stock; and some offences of violence may relate to positions with high levels of stress.

If the person has a conviction for an offence which relates to the work applied for, the employer must assess if this creates a risk to the Company.

Suggested wording for a form to cover these points:

Applications from exoffenders for this vacancy are welcomed and will be considered on their merit. Convictions which are irrelevant to the job will not be taken into consideration.

The information you provide will be treated as strictly confidential and will be considered only in relation to the job for which you are applying.

Disclosure of a conviction does not automatically disqualify applicants from consideration.

Name: ...........................................................................................

Position applying for: ................................................................

Have you ever been convicted of a criminal offence? Please answer Yes or No. ..............................................................

Are you willing to discuss this openly and honestly at interview? ............................................................................