Second Chance Employment: Employer Guide

On 30 June 2025 there were 46,998 adults in Australian prisons, up 6% in a single year, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Many times that number are on community-based orders or carrying historical convictions, and tens of thousands return to the community from custody every year.

Almost all of them will be released. Most of them want to work. The question is whether work wants them.

Source: ABS, Prisoners in Australia 2025.

Second chance employment is the shift that's happening, slowly but unmistakably, across Australian workforces. This guide walks through what it is, why it works, and how an employer might get started.

What Is Second Chance Employment?

Second chance employment is the practice of hiring people with a criminal record. In Australia, the same idea travels under a few different labels:

Justice-impacted employment
Fair-chance hiring
Throughcare employment (especially when delivered alongside in-prison programs and post-release support)

The model recognises a simple truth: a person's past is not their future. With the right preparation, the right employer match, and the right support, second-chance hires can become long-term, loyal members of any workforce.

Is It Legal to Ask About a Criminal Record in Australia?

Yes, but with limits.

Employers can ask about criminal history where it is relevant to the inherent requirements of the job. Many roles require a National Police Certificate, and that's appropriate. However, you cannot use a criminal record to discriminate against a candidate where the conviction is not relevant to the role.

The framework sits inside the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 and is supported by state-level anti-discrimination regimes. Reboot Australia briefs every host employer on what questions are appropriate and how to assess relevance, so you don't have to navigate that alone.

The Business Case

The instinct of many employers is to think of second chance employment as a charity decision. It isn't. The business case stacks up on multiple fronts:

1. Retention

Second-chance hires often show higher retention rates than the general workforce. They have a reason to make the job stick - not just a wage, but identity, purpose, and a step away from the cycle they're trying to break.

In labour-hire-heavy industries (construction, mining, logistics, warehousing), where churn costs add up fast, that retention is meaningful.

2. Lower total cost

Higher retention means lower turnover costs - recruitment, onboarding, training, lost productivity. The hourly rate looks similar to mainstream labour hire. The total cost of ownership often comes in lower.

3. Social procurement spend

If your business carries social procurement targets - federal, state, principal-contractor flow-down, modern slavery commitments - spending with a certified social enterprise actually counts. Reboot Australia is a certified social enterprise. Spend with us is reportable.

4. ESG and DEI outcomes

Second-chance hiring delivers measurable outcomes across:

Social pillar of ESG (community impact, diversity, inclusion)
Modern slavery commitments (when paired with proper award compliance and throughcare)
DEI reporting (justice-impacted is a recognised diversity dimension in mature DEI frameworks)

5. Workforce gap-fill in industries that need it

Construction, mining, logistics, warehousing, manufacturing - all currently constrained by labour availability across Australia. Second chance employment opens a pool of motivated candidates that other employers are overlooking.

The Human Case

The numbers are clean, but the human case is the one that lands hardest with most employers we work with.

Stable employment is the single strongest predictor of someone staying out of prison. A job changes everything downstream - housing, family, mental health, identity. We've placed people who, three years on, are mentoring the next intake of graduates and apologising to nobody for their past.

If you've ever wondered whether your business could be the catalyst for someone's turnaround - the answer is yes, and the cost is lower than you think.

What Good Looks Like

Not every second-chance hire is straightforward. The ones that work tend to share a few features:

1. The candidate has been properly prepared

Going from custody to the workplace is a transition. The candidates we place have been through interview prep, resume work, narrative coaching (how to own and position their past to an employer), and a workplace expectations brief. They're ready for day one.

2. The role and the person are matched

We don't just send a name. We assess work history, skills, transport, support needs, and the cultural fit of your site. We then bring you candidates we believe will succeed - not the next ten who applied.

3. The employer is briefed

We talk through what questions are appropriate, what to expect, how to handle disclosure, and what to do if performance issues come up. You're not flying blind.

4. Throughcare is in place

The first 90 days matter. We stay involved - checking in with both the worker and the supervisor, helping work through wobbles before they become reasons to end a placement.

5. There's a pathway

Most second-chance placements start on labour hire so both sides can assess fit. When it's working, conversion to direct employment is straightforward.

How to Get Started

If your business is curious about second chance employment but unsure how to begin, the lowest-risk path is:

Have a conversation. Tell us your workforce need, your site, your concerns. We come back to you on whether and how it could work.
Start with one placement. Labour hire arrangement. Reboot is the employer of record. We bring you a candidate we've prepared. You see how it goes.
Convert when ready. If the placement is working - and most of ours do - move them across to direct employment on terms that suit you both.

That's it. No long contracts, no commitments beyond the first placement, no theology.

Common Questions

Does it cost more? Charge rates are competitive with mainstream labour hire. Total cost of ownership often comes in lower because of retention.

What about insurance / workers comp? Under the labour hire model, Reboot is the employer of record and carries the workers' compensation. Your existing public liability and host-employer cover continues to apply per usual.

What if it doesn't work out? Same as any labour hire arrangement - you let us know, and we work it through with the candidate. We don't push placements where they shouldn't be.

What industries does this work in? Construction, mining, logistics, warehousing, manufacturing, hospitality, landscaping, civil works. We've placed across all of them.

Next Steps

If you're an employer wanting to explore second chance employment - whether you've been thinking about it for years or only just heard the phrase - we'd love to talk.