The employer’s perspective towards someone with criminal offence records

Abstract

This research aimed at identifying the employer’s perspective towards someone with criminal offence records. This qualitative study involved the use of semi-structured interviews to get in-depth data. The data was collected with five participants, each one being the owner or manager of a business. The businesses consisted of large, medium and small scale. Two main categories were chosen: ‘shopping and retail’ and ‘pubs, clubs and restaurants’. Data was analysed through thematic analysis through which five main themes were developed: ‘criminal background checks’, ‘nature of crime’, ‘willingness to change’, ‘competency’, and ‘monitoring’. The research ends with the limitations of the study together with recommendations for future research.