Prisons Housed Within

 Prisons Housed Within

check out this expression. On March 20, 1992, this man entered the First Tier National Bank, brandished a semi-automatic weapon at the tellers, and demanded all of the twenty-fives, fifty-dollars, and hundreds. There he stands. During a six-month crime rampage when I was twenty-eight years old, I would perpetrate five armed bank robberies, the first of which was this. After that, I remove the mask and tell them that these two personas are indeed my. "What you see standing before you today is the result of a gradual transformation that occurred between the two, beginning with a suicidal, drug-induced bank robber and continuing over the course of seven and a half years in a federal prison."
Metal shackles and razor wire are not necessarily associated with prison.

What is the relevance of my obtaining two bachelor's degrees while serving time to the field of human resource management? The walls that encircled me for seven and a half years are metaphorical of the "prisons within ourselves" that I think everyone experiences. When I say that you are a prisoner of your anxieties, addictions, depression, overeating, overworking, toxic relationships, etc., the list is endless. When we and the people we hire are "whole" on a personal level, we can only improve in our careers.

In addition, I think these "internal prisons" are the main reason for decreased quality and lost productivity. Are your people giving you their undivided attention if they are anxious about their relationships, afraid of failing, or struggling with addiction? No, they will be occupied with their worries, addictions, and phone calls to heal connections. At best, you will get an employee who is not fully present at work and, at worst, you will get someone who can not help but bring their personal problems to work with them.

NOMATTER WHETHER You are IN PRISON OR ON PAYROLL

We can think of prisons as both an institution and a group. In addition to being an organization, your business is an institution. Their structures are really quite similar when you give them any thought. Executive/Warden, Caseworker/Manager, Employee/Inmate. The only real distinction is whether you are a prisoner to your job or not, which is a question that many people ask themselves. How did I break free from my figurative prison? My approach to work is proactive rather than reactive. Here is my recommendation for HR managers. To a certain degree, reactive persons are protected by letting their surroundings drive their actions. Those that are proactive are not afraid to try new things and change things up. The HR committees I have spoken with have repeatedly told me, "We are not psychologists or psychiatrists," when I have asked them what they can do to help their employees break free from their own mental prisons. You do not have to be, but what is important is showing your employees that you care about them as people and that the firm values their health and happiness. Having counselors on staff, instituting stringent confidentiality policies, providing employees with time off to focus on themselves, and providing managers with training on how to recognize the signs of employees who may be experiencing personal difficulties are all ways to help. Imagine the impact on punctuality, absence, productivity, turnover, and quality if these were in place, and if we genuinely made our employees feel like family both during and after work.

Returning to a previous state

Turnover. In jail, the goal is for inmates to leave early and never return. If they work for your company, you hope they will stay forever. How are we going to achieve both goals? Inmates must be rehabilitated in prisons; currently, the focus is solely on confinement. Businesses should take an interest in their employees' life outside of work. To end on a personal note, I will discuss an HR topic that is near and dear to my heart: workforce diversity. Your most devoted, appreciative, and diligent worker may be an ex-con. If your organization has one, you are familiar with what I am talking about. If not, you should learn this truth. Our nation's jail systems must provide offenders with opportunities for success before this can be implemented on a national level. Most institutions have to focus their limited assets on security-related matters due to budget limitations; as a result, vocational and educational programs receive almost no funding. We can do some basic arithmetic. The annual expense of housing a single prisoner was $35,000 (and this is being conservative). Educating that same inmate would only cost a small fraction of that. Research that I have read indicates that 10% of ex-offenders with an Associates Degree and at least two years of jail time end up back in prison. Nearly 60% of those who leave with no education end up back in prison. Let the figures do the talking. Employ a former offender and help a broken person reintegrate into society; you never know, they can end up being your most valuable asset—especially if you show empathy for their struggles with self-esteem and mental health.

Troy Evans, a resident of Phoenix, Arizona, is both an author and a professional speaker. The following are some ways to get in touch with him: www.troyevans.com; 602-265-6855; 3104 E. Camelback Road, #436 Phoenix, AZ 85016; and www.troyevans.com.

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