Editor’s Note: Bonni Pomush is CEO of Working Wardrobes, an Orange County workforce development organization that partners with businesses to help individuals overcome barriers to employment through career readiness resources, training, coaching and interview styling, helping individuals rebuild their lives with confidence, dignity and sustainable employment. The Business Journal’s annual report on the largest law firms in Orange County begins on page 1.

Orange County’s unemployment rate recently hovered around 3.9%, reflecting a tight labor market where most roles are filled, yet many remain open long enough to disrupt operations and slow growth.

Beneath these headlines is a less visible reality. Even as employers struggle to retain reliable workers, current hiring practices exclude a segment of the local workforce that is ready and able to contribute: people returning from incarceration.

For businesses focused on retention and workforce stability, this represents a strategic blind spot.

A Local Talent Pool You Can’t Afford to Ignore

Orange County’s jail system releases about 53,000 people annually across its facilities. Statewide, California frees roughly 35,000 to 40,000 inmates from its state prisons annually, including more than 5,000 from Orange County.

Most return of working age and actively seek employment. For employers, this represents a sizable local labor pool that often goes untapped.

Nearly three-quarters of Orange County jobs are concentrated in sectors with ongoing operational demand, including logistics, hospitality, manufacturing and skilled trades. Many justice-impacted individuals have relevant training or work experience aligned with these industries when properly matched.

Yet traditional hiring filters frequently disqualify these candidates automatically. Employers don’t get the opportunity to evaluate a job applicant’s performance potential because the process ends at the background check.

Performance and Retention: The ROI You Want

For employers, hiring decisions are driven by performance and retention. About 85% of HR leaders report employees with criminal records perform as well as or better than other hires, and 81% report equal or greater dependability, according to a 2021 survey published by the Society for Human Resource Management and the Charles Koch Institute.

About 77% report strong potential for advancement. The organization said more than 70 million Americans have some form of a criminal record.

Retention has measurable economic value. Employees who remain longer reduce recruitment costs and preserve institutional knowledge. Operational continuity improves. Managers spend less time replacing staff and more time focusing on growth.

In a tight labor market, expanding access to reliable talent supports long-term workforce stability.

Risk Isn’t Avoidable, But It Is Manageable

Safety, liability and brand reputation are important considerations in any hiring decision. Employers already rely on structured processes to evaluate candidates and manage risk. These same practices can be applied when considering justice-impacted applicants.

Employers evaluating such candidates should focus on the same indicators they use for any applicant: recent behavior, consistency and evidence of growth.

Work history, completion of training, and participation in structured workforce readiness programs often signal reliability, determination and self-motivation.

Time since involvement with the justice system and demonstrated rehabilitation (e.g., education, skill development, or work completed while in a correctional facility) can provide meaningful insight into a candidate’s readiness for employment.

California’s Fair Chance Act also provides a clear framework: for most employers with five or more employees, questions about conviction history cannot appear on applications or during the initial interview process. Employers may only review conviction history after a conditional offer and must conduct an individualized assessment before making an adverse decision.

If a background check later reveals a conviction, employers can invite the candidate to share context and focus on forward-looking questions about what they learned and the steps they have taken to rebuild their lives.

Combined with standard hiring safeguards—references, appropriate background checks, thoughtful role alignment and probationary periods—this approach allows businesses to responsibly evaluate risk while widening access to capable, motivated talent.

Effective workforce strategies include aligning candidates with clearly defined job requirements, using skills-based screening, partnering with workforce development organizations that prepare and vet candidates, and implementing defined probationary evaluation periods. Federal programs such as the Work Opportunity Tax Credit also provide financial incentives that help offset initial hiring costs.

These are not concessions. They are disciplined hiring practices that protect operations while expanding the available talent pool.

Many employers who begin with one structured hire find the model repeatable and scalable.

Stable Community, Stable Workforce

Employment plays a central role in long-term workforce stability. Public data shows that when individuals secure consistent work after incarceration, recidivism declines significantly. Reduced recidivism lowers public costs associated with reentry and contributes to safer, more stable communities.

For business leaders, this matters. A stable community supports a stable workforce. Expanded labor force participation strengthens the regional economy.

Fair chance hiring is not a social initiative. It is workforce infrastructure. Expanding access to qualified candidates increases retention potential and strengthens the long-term resilience of Orange County’s labor market.

Start With One Hire and Scale What Works

Many successful leaders pilot new strategies before expanding them. Fair chance hiring can follow the same approach.

Here’s a simple plan and invitation:

Identify operationally critical roles with clear tasks and measurable performance expectations.

Partner with a vetted reentry workforce development organization like Working Wardrobes to pre-screen and prepare candidates.

Establish measurable performance benchmarks and short probationary evaluations.

Assess impact: Retention, performance, team fit, cost to replace.

Rinse and repeat with data in hand.

This approach relies on data, not assumptions. Employers evaluate outcomes and scale based on evidence.

Companies that have adopted structured hiring practices often report improved retention and dependable performance in operational roles.

Bold Leadership for Orange County’s Next Decade

Orange County businesses consistently adapt to changing economic conditions. As traditional hiring pipelines tighten, employers must evaluate strategies that strengthen workforce stability.

Justice-impacted individuals represent a local talent segment that is frequently excluded despite demonstrated readiness to work. Employers who apply structured hiring practices gain access to motivated employees and improve long-term retention outcomes.

For companies focused on sustainable growth, expanding access to qualified candidates is not a departure from sound business strategy. It is an investment in workforce resilience and regional economic strength.

Orange County’s next competitive advantage may already exist within its communities, among individuals prepared to contribute and committed to long-term employment, when given the opportunity.