Rézme is a platform built to make Fair Chance Hiring practical, compliant, and scalable. It streamlines hiring processes and ensures compliance with Fair Chance Hiring regulations through automated workflows.
This is one of four case studies featured in our latest report on Fair Chance Hiring.
The Challenge
Millions of capable people are locked out of jobs because standard hiring systems focus on background checks instead of skills. Background checks, rigid HR policies, and fragmented regulations often prevent qualified candidates from being considered, especially when it comes to records of prior criminal-legal system interaction.
Jodi Anderson Jr. knows this reality firsthand. Despite navigating a period of incarceration early in his life, taking classes through Cornell, and then earning a degree from Stanford, standard background checks blocked him from being hired.
“I thought it would be fine… I had a degree from Stanford, mentors, strong recommendations,” Anderson recalled. “But I couldn’t get a job. Standard background checks, which 92% of employers run, flagged things from when I was just 15.”
Only a company like Reddit, focusing on capacities rather than records, recognized his contributions to competing in the tech industry. Through this experience, Anderson realized how conventional hiring systems can obscure talent.
At Stanford, Anderson met Ryan Brennan, who shared his vision of reimagining how technology and compliance systems could expand access to opportunity. Their complementary experiences and expertise—rooted in a shared understanding of how data and design could be used to reveal ability more clearly—led to the creation of Rézme, a platform built to make Fair Chance Hiring practical, compliant, and scalable.
“I learned how the system actually works—how background check providers, rules, policies, and the law interact,” Anderson says.
“The core issue isn’t just policy. There are policies to help people get past some barriers, but the technology and HR processes weren’t designed with those policies in mind, or to increase labor market participation.”
Fragmented regulations, underutilized incentives, and exclusion-focused HR technology systematically prevent talented candidates from accessing opportunities, leaving employers with a narrower pool of skilled, committed workers.
Structural Barriers in Hiring
Rézme identified three main barriers that prevent fair chance hiring:
1. Fragmented hiring compliance systems
Employers must navigate a patchwork of laws regulating hiring for candidates with criminal histories, including Ban the Box, “fair chance” rules, and other local, state, and federal regulations. Over 37 states and 150 cities and counties have adopted some form of Ban the Box or fair chance hiring legislation, each with its own requirements. Compliance involves navigating federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance and evaluating records of prior interaction for job relevance. Employers must also maintain documentation of their decisions and follow specific procedures when rejecting a candidate’s application based on background check results.
2. Hard-to-access incentives
Tax credits, federal bonding, and liability protections exist to support fair chance hiring, but are often unused because accessing and applying them is complex, time-consuming, or costly for employer companies.
3. Technology is designed for risk avoidance, not for recognizing abilities
Most hiring software filters candidates out rather than connecting employers with qualified, historically excluded talent.
“This is an asymmetric information problem. People with records know they’ve desisted, but they have no way to communicate that. Waiting 10 years to prove you’ve stopped offending is incredibly inefficient.”
Even highly qualified and committed individuals, like Anderson, are systematically excluded, creating lost opportunity for both candidates and employers.
The Innovation and Potential for Structural Change
Rézme treats this market failure as a design problem, rebuilding the core infrastructure of hiring—compliance management, incentives, and data—so that opportunity becomes the default rather than the exception.
The platform functions as an independent compliance and candidate-ability recognition layer embedded in existing HR systems, helping employers navigate complex regulations while expanding access to qualified talent. Key features include:
- Centralized compliance management: It monitors and applies local, state, and federal hiring regulations, including EEOC guidance on fair chance hiring, Ban the Box laws, and fair chance ordinances.
- Automated access to fair-chance hiring incentives: It identifies and applies relevant tax credits, federal bonding, and liability protection, allowing employers to fully leverage programs to encourage fair chance hiring.
- Candidate reclamation and Restorative Records: Employers, whether manually or through an automated system, may reject a candidate’s application based on a background check. In these cases, Rézme reassesses qualifications, verifies eligibility in line with relevant regulatory requirements, and presents the candidate back to the employer. Its Restorative Record documents achievements, skills, and verified rehabilitation, ensuring that employers see the candidate’s full potential.
- Integration with HR workflows: It works with existing HR platforms like Workday, embedding compliance, incentives, and insights directly into hiring processes without disrupting operations. It also creates and maintains documentation of records, ensuring employers can demonstrate compliance with fair chance and anti-discrimination regulations.
- Research-driven decision support: It uses experiments with synthetic candidate profiles to measure employer responses to variables such as education, time since incarceration, and community involvement. This evidence is used to continuously refine the platform’s evaluation and reclamation processes.
By centralizing compliance management, Rézme ensures employers follow regulatory requirements correctly, avoid legal risk, and apply consistent, fair processes during the hiring process. Embedding incentives and evidence-based practices allows employers to evaluate candidates based on demonstrated ability rather than assumptions about past records and risk. Centralized expertise reduces administrative burdens, and continuous research and feedback refine hiring processes across organizations.
Evidence of Effectiveness
Rézme’s model has shown early traction.
- Higher education: Its Restorative Records tool was piloted at Cornell University and adopted across 22 SUNY campuses.
- Government: The San Diego County Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement now refers employers directly to Rézme as part of its official guidance.
- Manufacturing: In a recent pilot, employers adopting Rézme’s platform to streamline early-stage hiring cut recruiter screening time per candidate by 80 percent.
The company is currently experiencing an “inflection point,” with more conversations from employers than it can currently serve, signaling strong market demand.
Interest is expanding in high-turnover industries such as hospitality, manufacturing, and supply-chain management, where employers struggle with chronic labor shortages. Rézme is also assembling pilot groups across sectors, showing that employers are actively seeking solutions to expand their hiring pool while remaining compliant.
Looking Forward
Anderson and Brennan’s vision extends beyond individual placements. Rézme aims to reshape hiring systems by embedding compliance, incentives, and evidence-based practices that create sustainable pathways for historically excluded candidates. By providing employers with practical, scalable tools and documenting fair chance decisions, Rézme helps ensure that opportunity is determined by talent, not past records.
By transforming compliance from a barrier into an enabler, Rézme builds the missing infrastructure connecting workforce-access goals to everyday employer practice, laying the groundwork for a more transparent, accountable, and equitable hiring system.