Supplier aims to give parolees new workplace opportunities

Lalit Verma, CEO at Sakthi Automotive Group, said the company has had success hiring parolees in a variety of jobs; some of been promoted.

One segment among the working poor is gaining a second chance in the workplace: paroled prisoners.
Sakthi Automotive Group USA Inc., is making headlines for its innovative approach to boosting its employee ranks — hiring ex-offenders amid a $60 million expansion of its southwest Detroit facility.

The company, a subsidiary of India-based supplier Sakthi Group, is an example of the business-led support that advocates for low-income workers say is needed to help such workers not only get and keep their jobs, but reduce the rate of turnover.

CEO Lalit Verma says 25 convicted felons were hired within a six-month period this year, with a goal to employ at least 48 over the next two years. Verma said recently the company plans to hire “as many … good, capable people we can find.”

Most enter the company on the shop floor as CNC operators (handling computer programmed machinery), hi-lo drivers and maintenance workers, earning between $11 and $14 per hour, Verma said. A few parolees already have been promoted, some within a matter of months.

They make up a workforce 280 strong, with a goal to hit 650 employees within a few years, Verma said. Sakthi makes aluminum castings for the automotive industry.

Sakthi’s approach has statewide attention.

The Michigan Department of Corrections has worked with Sakthi and other employers to place convicted offenders in jobs upon their release from prison.

This year, the department held a job fair in conjunction with U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade’s office, representing the Eastern District of Michigan, that attracted nearly 800 paroled prisoners and nearly 20 employers, said Janella Robinson, a prison re-entry specialist with the state corrections department.

On a smaller scale, corrections staff members regularly focus on employers’ outreach, including making them aware of the types of education and training prisoners receive while incarcerated. They also offer employer tours inside prisons to see the work firsthand, Robinson said.

The department often develops training programs based on the types of specialized skills employers need, such as welding, she said.

The department uses several other tools to help ex-offenders transition back into employment, including retention workshops with parole officers about the types of conditions the new hire might face on the job and wage subsidies for employers who want to give a parolee a tryout in a temporary position.

“We are on a good path, but we have to continue what we’re doing, and I think that more employers have to become open to considering (them),” Robinson said.

Verma said the benefits for Sakthi are twofold — his company is able to add skilled labor, especially as manufacturers worry about a looming talent shortage, while helping prisoners re-enter civilian life and support themselves.

Parolees know their felony conviction automatically disqualifies them from jobs at many companies, Verma said. Sakthi’s goal is to offer them a second chance.

Experience so far has shown parolees, once re-acclimated to the workforce, to be dedicated employees.

“I think they are sincere; they are willing to learn,” Verma said. “Employees are the people who are serving the customer. If they are not comfortable in their personal lives, they can’t focus on their work.”

Sakthi projects it will have revenue of $58 million this year, $150 million in 2016 and $450 million by 2020