• Date:

  16 Sep 2020

• Time:

  2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

• Location:

  Go To Webinar

• Price:

  Free

Business in the Community NI is launching a ‘Ban the Box’ campaign which aims to: help employers better understand the challenges people with convictions face when trying to turn their lives around through employment; encourage good practice in relation to recruitment practices; and support employers to engage practically with this often-overlooked group.

About this webinar

At this webinar you’ll be given an introduction to Business in the Community’s Ban the Box Campaign which aims to support, guide and encourage employers to take simple steps to help make job roles more accessible to people with convictions.

We’ll hear representatives from Northstone-Farrans, NIACRO and Offploy share their experiences of working with people with convictions and their involvement in the Ban the Box campaign.

Background to Ban the Box

Through the Ban the Box campaign, delivered in partnership with NIACRO, Access NI and the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, BITCNI will fuel conversation around second chances and fair hiring practices, in an effort to reduce the incidence of re-offending, through employment.

As part of the campaign, we will be asking employers to sign a pledge committing to remove the criminal conviction question or tick box from the initial stage of the recruitment process, to give people with convictions a fair chance to compete for jobs.

Getting involved with Ban the Box does not prevent employers from conducting background checks, guarantee employment, or force employers to hire people with convictions. Instead, we will be encouraging recruiting employers to move these checks, if included at all, to a later stage, in the recruitment process – once skills, attitude and aptitude of the applicant have been assessed.

Signatories will have the opportunity to: participate in advisory workshops; share and hear best practice examples; benefit from a range of resources and toolkits; and attend ‘seeing is believing’ events or virtual events.

Our webinar will give you the opportunity to learn more about:

• Ban the Box and its business case – Sara Neilson, BITCNI
• The experience of one of our funders on working with people with convictions, and why the campaign is important – Victoria Johnston, Northstone-Farrans
• The impact recruitment practices can make to the life of a person with a conviction – Jonny Pardoe, NIACRO
• Why Ban the Box is an important first step for employers eager to access the widest possible talent pool and to see more people with convictions secure employment, making our society safer – Jacob Hill, Offploy

Click here to view speaker profiles.

There will be time for questions and feedback, as part of the webinar agenda.

Ban the Box is funded by the Department of Justice and Northstone NI.

Ban the Box Steering Group

Following the webinar we will be setting up a Ban the Box Steering Group, to oversee and help drive the campaign. We aim to recruit approximately eight employer champions to join this Group. The Group will meet quarterly and be encouraged to engage directly in Ban the Box activities as appropriate.

For more information about the campaign, webinar or the Steering Group, please contact sara.neilson@bitcni.org.uk or fill in the form at www.bitcni.org.uk/banthebox and we’ll be in touch.