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SECOND CHANCES
t is a risk not every company would be willing to take. But working with ex-offenders and addiction recovery is something Solar Gates Managing Director Neil Sampson is driven by. The story starts some years ago when he was attending a local community event that featured several charities and other organisations that gave him the understanding of the possibilities. Prison recruitment officers are fighting a constant battle against the stigma and perception of putting inmates back into the workplace, but yet it remains one of the most important parts of their reformation process. “When we first started working with East Sutton Park prison we found that the recruitment process was quite straightforward. It was relatively easy for us to integrate prison residents into the business. I have always had a heart to help those who haven’t had a ‘normal’ upbringing - but then what’s normal? Two of the founding members of staff, I meet many years ago at a youth group I was working at. I realised that sadly not everyone has the chance to grow up with the opportunities many of us are given and this can lead them to have a ‘fixed’ and negative mindset. I have been determined since to help people change that to a ‘growth’ mindset, help them develop as people and have the prospects for a decent career and positive outlook. So for me, working with prisoners was an easy decision - but it’s also extremely rewarding,” says Mr Sampson. “Why should someone’s life or career be ruined forever just because they have made one mistake? When you meet people in rehabilitation and get to hear their stories, you understand that a lot of the mistakes they have made are down to circumstances they have found themselves in at that time. Life choices they
Why Solar Gates MD Neil Sampson is driven to give people a second chance
wouldn’t have normally have entertained, and you quickly realise that its help they need to move forward not more retribution.” The process is actually simple-just like any job role-you interview the candidate, issue a contract and pay them like any other member of staff. The salaries are levied in line with the Prisoners Earning ACT and HMP use the levy to help towards victims of crime support says Mr Sampson. “It wasn’t a difficult hill to climb for us and we have grown from integrating our first inmate into the team to now having some 40% of our staff team going through a rehabilitation period of one sort or another. For me, managing them is just like managing any other member of staff and that is the main thing-we treat everyone the same, same amount of trust, same trainingjust like everyone else in the business. And in return, we get loyalty and commitment because often there is real gratitude to be employed, a feeling of value and staff are really focused and enthusiastic - which is something you can’t teach,” he adds. “When you meet someone serving time, just like any other interview, you quickly get an understanding of their outlook. I take the Berne transactional analysis model when relating to a CV. The model explains how when we interact with people, only 7% of the transaction comes from the words used, 23% from the tonality of the words and 70% from body language. Unless you get to meet the candidate, and this is even more true with a CV from someone who is at a low point in their life, you may have missed 93% of their strength and abilities. From that you can really tell if they are going to be a good fit for the business-so we go through that process just like we would with anyone else,” says Mr Sampson.