Decision time · Hiring chair
Making the call
The interview is done. Here is the decision framework, the incentives as they actually stand, and the first-90-days plan.
Strong candidate, record disclosed, interview handled well on both sides. What remains is a defensible yes and a first-90-days plan that makes the yes stick. The incentive picture, honestly, as of August 2026: Federal Bonding is active and free. The Work Opportunity Tax Credit lapsed December 31, 2025 and is in hiatus; Congress has reinstated it retroactively before and a bipartisan five-year extension is pending, so keep screening and keep documentation, but do not build the business case on money that is not currently authorized. Indiana's HIRE program and WorkOne services are active.
The defensible yes: “Your boss asks: how do we know this is a sound hire?”
That file answers your boss, your insurer, and 2 a.m. you, all three. The assessment shows job-related reasoning (EEOC, 2012). The bond caps the downside at zero cost. The evidence base says second-chance hires perform at or above peers with better retention where measured at scale (SHRM, 2021; Johns Hopkins, 2017). You are not asking anyone to take a leap. You are showing them a process that already landed.
Two problems. WOTC is in hiatus right now, so the centerpiece credit is not currently claimable, and framing the person as a subsidized risk poisons the well with any boss who repeats the frame. Incentives are the garnish. The dish is a good worker your competitors keep screening out. Lead with the worker.
You probably do, and good feelings are how this hire gets reversed at the first bump. The documented process is what protects the candidate from a future manager's bad feeling, which is the mirror image of today. Write it down while it is easy.
Making it stick: “Offer accepted. What do the first 90 days look like so this succeeds?”
The research on programs that work keeps finding the same ingredients: normal expectations, one consistent human, and logistics handled without drama. A parole check-in is an appointment, the same category as anyone's physical therapy. The worst pattern is the special-fragile-hire treatment, which isolates exactly the person who most needs to be ordinary here. Normal, with a named person. That is the program.
Close watch is surveillance wearing a lanyard, and the team will conduct it as such. If the person cleared your process, they get your standard trust. One named point person for questions beats five worried observers every time.
Close, and the pure version quietly fails people over logistics that cost you nothing: a supervision appointment that conflicts with a mandatory Tuesday meeting becomes a firing offense nobody intended. Equal expectations, yes. Blind logistics, no. The schedule-awareness piece is the difference.
Now you, out loud
Draft your incentive-stack one-liner for the file, current as of today, so the business case is honest.
One way it can sound
“Federal Bonding: active, free, covers six months. WOTC: lapsed and in hiatus as of August 2026, documentation retained in case of retroactive reinstatement. Indiana HIRE and WorkOne: active placement support. Business case rests on the candidate and the retention evidence, with incentives as upside.”
Say it to the mirror, a friend, or the wall. Nothing here records, transmits, or stores anything. That is a promise built into how this site works.
Keep these
- The file beats the vibe: assessment, references, bond, evidence.
- Incentives are garnish, and WOTC is currently in hiatus. Say so in the file. Honest business cases survive audits and bosses.
- Normal expectations, a named person, drama-free logistics. That is the whole retention secret.