Devising a Strategy to Reduce Recidivism in the Heartland By Negus Rudison-Imhotep, Ph.D

Dr. Negus Rudison-Imhotep | A Cultural Memory Specialist

Abstract: This paper will examine hiring ex-offenders to minimize the squandering of human capital in Iowa. This paper will demonstrate the role of the Evelyn K. Davis Center for Working Families in providing career and educational development for the underrepresented ex-offender population in Des Moines. Employing ex-offenders with less severe criminal backgrounds can provide an incentive for those who possess the skill set employers are seeking.

The employment of ex-offenders in Des Moines, Iowa, can reduce recidivism and promote social inclusion. Government officials must assess how perceptions of fairness toward ex-offenders influence employer reactions, and how these perceptions affect employee performance and commitment within the inner-city community.  

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In using ex-offenders in the workforce, managers must make assessments based on workplace performance as a qualitative indicator of the viability of the ex-offenders contribution to productivity. 

The organization must contemplate the quantitative data to determine if the ex-offender analysis shows an increased organizational commitment, pay satisfaction, job satisfaction, and satisfaction with the ex-offender supervisor. 

A growing number of companies emphasize the performance measures of ex-offenders as a template for their compensation strategy. Accurately assessing a mixed-method study of distributive and procedural fairness allows a company to introduce performance appraisal criteria that enhance the overall satisfaction of ex-offender employees with the appraisal system.

Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Method Strategy

The company must determine how an employee views the value of being employed compared to their pay status. Managers need to evaluate pay differences influenced by market pressures and external competition. Management must decide on the fairness of individual wage rates for ex-offenders performing the same job as non-offenders and consider its impact on morale and the company’s bottom line.

The organization should also consider the economic and legal implications of ensuring equal pay for ex-offenders doing similar work and assess the comparable worth of each employee for the company’s benefit. In the 21st century, many companies focus on external equity as a foundation for their compensation strategies.

By accurately assessing internal and external equity, a company can develop compensation procedures that enhance its ability to integrate ex-offenders into the workforce competitively.

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A company’s approach to hiring ex-offenders is as crucial as the pay programs it implements. A company can develop compensation structures and programs that remain competitive in the free market economy by implementing an ex-offender hiring strategy. Public perception of ex-offenders significantly influences a company’s ability to attract, retain, and motivate its employees.

“Employee perceptions of how far the organization provides pay rates at the same level to that of other companies within the same industry are equally important and should be carefully considered when a company sets compensation objectives. Workers tend to be more motivated to perform better or to support a company’s goals” (Romanof, 2014, p. 17).  A study was conducted by Dr. Edoardo Della Torre of the Department of Management and Quantitative Methods at the University of Bergamo in Italy. 

Dr. Torre investigated how the design of compensation systems influences workers’ behaviors by building upon the results of equity theory at the individual level.  Dr. Torre identified four main gaps to fill in the existing equity-in-compensation research: i) the simultaneous analysis of internal and external inequity; ii) the distinction between inequitable and unequal compensation systems; iii) the organizational-level (rather than individual) effects of inequitable systems; and iv) the inclusion of absenteeism among the negative organizational outcomes of an inequitable system. (Torre, 2013, p. 12). To develop a plan for internal value evaluation, a company must consider its overall strategy and management’s commitment to execution within the workforce.

Kent Romanoff led a study on internal and external equity, concluding that determining the relative internal value of jobs in large or complex organizations can be a challenging process. Job evaluation methods have been used to develop a job progression that reflects the relative value of jobs based on skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions.

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Several job-evaluation processes include (1) whole job ranking, (2) classification, (3) point factors, (4) factor comparison, (5) slotting, and (6) scored questionnaires. (Romanof, 2014, p 20).  Companies willing to commit to an ex-offender program have a market-based pay compensation structure paying at a rate comparable to the industry wage when compared with rates offered to people in similar positions in peer organizations.

WageWatch stated that external equity is a measure of market competitiveness forming its basis on job functions and duties.  Internal equity measures the value of a position within an organization, based on job function and job satisfaction. (Best Practices: Balancing Internal and External Pay Equity, 2014).  

The most used wage structure by industrial companies today is the Two-tier wage strategy.  Raymond Martin wrote in the Journal of Occupational Psychology that two-tier wage structures occur when employees are placed on a substantially lower pay schedule than previously hired employees.

This study examined how internal and external pay comparisons related to pay among low- and high-tier employees in a retail food chain with a two-tier wage structure. “For the low-tier group, comparisons with low- and high-tier referents, part-time referents, and referents at other places where the respondents might obtain work predicted pay satisfaction.

For the high-tier group, comparisons with high-tier referents and referents in heavy industries, such as automobile or steel showed pay satisfaction” (Martin, 1991, pp. 57-59). When a company commits to hiring ex-offenders, the research methods used to inform that decision are crucial.

There are two major approaches to research used in the study of the social and the individual world. These are quantitative and qualitative research.  It is important to understand the differences between the two research paradigms by comparing their epistemological, theoretical, and methodological backgrounds. 

“Since quantitative research has well-established strategies and methods, but qualitative research is still growing and becoming more differentiated in methodological approaches, greater consideration will be given to the latter” (Yilmaz, 2013, p. 311).  To address the social dynamics of hiring ex-offenders today, quantitative and qualitative considerations are important benchmarks for success. 

“Quantitative research is informed by objectivist epistemology and thus seeks to develop explanatory universal laws in social behaviors by statistically measuring what it assumes to be a static reality. It emphasizes the measurement and analysis of causal relationships between isolated variables within a framework which is value-free, logical, reductionistic, and deterministic” (Yilmaz, 2013, p.312). 

The ex-offender should be studied objectively by management and the decision to hire the ex-offender be made on merit and not prejudice.  

“A quantitative approach endorses the view that psychological and social phenomena have an objective reality independent of the subjects being studied” (Yilmaz, 2013, p.313). On the other hand, qualitative research is based on constructivist epistemology. It examines what it assumes to be a socially constructed, dynamic reality through a framework that is value-laden, flexible, descriptive, and holistic.

The company looks to judge the impact of hiring the ex-offender on societal perceptions of acceptability. “Qualitative research tries to understand how social experience is created and given meaning. The qualitative paradigm views the relationship between the knower and the known as inextricably connected” (Yilmaz, 2013, p.314). 

Finally, the mixed method study combines all the information gathered from the qualitative and quantitative research and makes decisions based on the knowledge gained from both.  

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Appraising research is an important aspect of understanding options and solutions in evidence-based design and then translating these into design recommendations.

“Evaluating evidence in explanation for any systematic review; a search can contain information from a variety of sources including quantitative research, qualitative research, and gray literature, and it can be difficult to summarize this data into a cohesive whole” (Taylor, 2014, p. 144). Iowa must rise to the vanguard of protecting our youth and adults in the criminal justice system.

 The integration of qualitative and quantitative data gathering, analysis, and interpretation, along with utilizing both methodologies, should foster the development of a well-informed hypothesis” (Creswell, 2009).  

Many companies today analyze their internal equity in a way that will determine the best possible job wage structures that address internal and external benchmarks in employee relationships, organization structure, and job satisfaction. 

Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method research is but another tool in management’s efforts to address their social responsibility and to be aware of their commitment to productivity and the bottom line.  In the final analysis, the organization when hiring ex-offenders must choose a rigorous and disciplined approach to job evaluation.

Management must decide that if they hire ex-offenders, the result may cause morale problems in the workforce. If the company hires ex-offenders, the pay system must be equitable and fair to all employees. 

The ex-offender owes his or her life to the company for the opportunity to rejoin society. They depend on management innovation for their livelihood and management commitment success.

References

• Best Practices: Balancing Internal and External Pay Equity. (2014, July 29). Retrieved July 29, 2014, from http://ibrief.wagewatch.com/2012/12/20/best-practices-balancing-internal.
• Creswell, J. W. (2009). RESEARCH DESIGN: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches.
• Martin, R. T. (1991). Internal and External Referents as Predictors of Pay Satisfaction Among Employees. Journal of Occupational Psychology Vol.64, 57 – 66.
• Romanoff, K. (2014). Pay Equity: Internal and External Considerations. Compensational and Benefits Review, 17 – 23.
• Taylor, E. (2014). Evaluating Evidence: Defining Levels and Quality Using Critical Appraisal Mixed Method Tools. Health Environments Research & Design Journal, Vol. 7 Issue 3, p.144-151.
• Torre, E. D. (2013). Internal and External Equity in Compensation Systems. Department of Management Economics and Quantitative Methods, 12 – 24.
• Yilmaz, K. (2013). Comparison of Quantitative and Qualitative Research Traditions. European Journal of Education, Vol. 48, Issue 2, p.311-316.

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