Risky Business? The Value of Employing Offenders and Ex-Offenders: An Interview With James Timpson,Chief Executive of Timpson

Abstract

This interview with James Timpson, Chief Executive of Timpson retailers, explores his innovative approach to recruitment and empowerment in the workplace. James Timpson is passionate about the employment of ex-offenders, working closely with the prison service in the United Kingdom and creating a workplace that invests in its employees. This interview offers some interesting insights into how organizations can contribute positively to society and engage seriously with improving our communities. Drawing on James’s insights, we provide a commentary on the impact that James’s work can have on ex-offenders in terms of reducing reoffending and improving the lives of a vulnerable group of people through creating a workplace culture that emphasizes empowerment. James shows how organizations can support ex-offenders and simultaneously ensure the success of the company. In fact, he shows how these two things can go hand in hand.

Keywords

employment empowerment ex-offenders organizational culture prison work rehabilitation

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