Waste Management is signing up a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Department of Corrections which will see it offering transport and other related jobs to released prisoners.
It is the 100th employer to sign an MOU with the Department says corrections minister Louise Upston.
Waste Management will work with Corrections and offer released prisoners roles such as drivers, administration, computer operator, runners, landfill operators, general operators, labourers, diesel mechanics and call centre roles.
Upston says the partnership, has tremendous potential and she is looking forward to it developing and offer more employment opportunities for prisoners on release.
“Through these partnerships, Corrections is providing employers with motivated and skilled workers for a broad range of meaningful jobs,” says Upston.
“We know that having stable employment plays a huge role in reducing the likelihood of reoffending once someone leaves prison. That is good for the prisoner, their whanau and the communities they return to,” she says.
Other employers that have signed MoUs with Corrections include Global Bus and Horticulture NZ to provide career training and sustainable employment.
Corrections deliver a broad range of education and job training programmes in prisons including horticulture, manufacturing, construction, painting and hospitality. In the last financial year, around 9000 offenders were engaged in employment-related activities.
It also has a recruitment service to connect offenders with meaningful jobs when released from prison. Over the past five months, placing around 300 people with convictions into long-term, sustainable employment.
Corrections have also run an employment support service over the last three years which provides jobs and in-work support for prisoners due for release and offenders on community sentences.
To date, the programme has helped 137 offenders find employment.
