The R.O.I. of Returnship Programs

GTB
GTB
Aug 9, 2017 · 5 min read

Gender bias is not a problem unique to advertising. However, our industry continues to face a dilemma: a lack of women in senior-level positions, which translates to a deficiency in female influence. Women control the majority of consumer spending and social sharing, so it only makes sense that they should have a high level of influence within an ad agency. Low female representation at a senior level is most likely a combination of many factors. However, one of the undeniable reasons is that 43 percent of women who have children take a break in their careers (source: 2010 study, Center for Talent Innovation). Many of those women have difficulty finding an on-ramp back to full-time work when they decide to return to their careers.

GTB is an advertising agency that prides itself on cultivating a culture of what’s next. Look around. Listen. What’s next is all about diversity. It’s about inclusion. Successful organizations understand: Diversity is counting your people, but inclusion is making your people count. Inclusion is about creating a work environment that takes a whole person into account, by recognizing that valuable employees are more than the degree they have earned or the lines on their resume. It is no longer ideal to have people of the same mind-set, background, demographic and abilities calling the shots. It is imperative, especially within an integrated advertising company, to include differing points of view and myriad life experiences. The more diverse the people who come up with ideas, the more diverse the ideas will be.

GTB, along with many other companies, has instituted a Returnship program to address the underrepresentation of women in senior-level positions. The goal of the program, called “Elevate,” is to give women who have chosen to temporarily pause their careers a chance to get back into the workforce. A study published by the Center for Talent Innovation in 2010 found that 31 percent of highly qualified women voluntarily left their jobs for an average of 2.7 years. Nearly nine out of 10 women who left their jobs said they wanted to resume their careers, and while 73 percent succeeded in returning to their careers, only 40 percent found full-time mainstream work. GTB’s Returnship program gives women the chance to return to the workplace and to receive training, support and, ultimately, a full-time position. Every great program starts with inspiration followed by lots of preparation. While every company is different, this is what GTB implemented to get its Returnship program started. We hope these guidelines help your company start a Returnship program of its own.

GET INTERNAL BUY-IN

Your first step is to get the go-ahead from your company’s leadership. We used our successful quarterly internship structure as a foundation, and our Returnship program became a natural extension. We utilized the existing funding, scheduling and philosophy of our traditional internship program. Our initial proposal demonstrated to our leadership that, with minimal investment, this program could increase the likelihood of stronger gender diversity in our organization. This, coupled with the fact that marketers such as General Mills and HP are starting to demand their agencies introduce diversity quotas, was a compelling reason to launch a program.

DETERMINE YOUR BRANDING, LOGISTICS AND CURRICULUM
We used the framework from our internship program to develop our 10-week curriculum. We then created a unique name and logo, “Elevate,” for the program to make sure it had its own identity. Some elements of our traditional internship program (discipline lunch-and-learns, technical training, personal brand training) were easily transferable to our Returnship candidates.

DEFINE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
Here are the criteria GTB decided upon to select a Returnship participant, although we continue to evaluate as our program evolves:

• Applicant must have been out of the workforce for 2+ years for the following reasons, including, but not limited to: — Child care — Caring for aging parents — Grad school — Personal health issues

• Applicant must be able to work 40 hours/week during GTB’s regular business hours throughout the 10-week program.

• Applicant must be female with past work experience in the advertising industry. We will consider women from other industries and disciplines who may have transferable skills and are interested in taking a new career direction.

PROMOTE YOUR PROGRAM
GTB is fortunate to have a strong existing recruitment brand and a large social media following, which we tapped into to promote our Returnship program. We started by first posting the open position on our website career portal, which allowed applicants to submit their resumes and a personal statement about what qualified them for our program.

To create better awareness of what a Returnship program is, we kicked off our program with a one-day symposium. We invited speakers, including GTB executives and keynote speaker Helene Paulette Cote, an advocate from the 3 percent Conference’s Returnship initiative. We also gathered an eclectic group of women who had successfully reentered the workforce. They formed a panel group that engaged in a Q & A session with the audience. We rounded out the day with a speed-recruiting session of candidates interested in participating in the program.

FIND YOUR CANDIDATES
We cast a wide net to find applicants using our symposium, social media and the GTB website, plus relying primarily on word of mouth. Applicants were directed to the job description on our career portal. Chosen applicants were invited to the symposium and asked to stick around afterward for a speed-recruiting session with our recruiters. (Think speed dating, minus the candlelight and romance, and add encouragement and opportunity.) Each candidate spent 15 minutes with two recruiters. Going forward, we are posting our Returnship program on repository sites like iRelaunch that list employers offering return-to-work programs.

When the symposium was finished, our recruiters identified the top contenders. We invited these women back for another round of speed interviews, this time to interact with selected managers from departments that best matched the candidates.

DEFINE YOUR METRICS: WHAT SPELLS SUCCESS FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION?
Our inaugural Returnship positions were filled, and we hit the ground running. For later sessions, we posted jobs on our website and email-blasted attendees of the symposium to spread the word. We continue to explore new ways to attract women who are ready to reconnect to advertising,

  • GTB currently has a 80 percent placement rate of “graduated” Returnship participants. In the long term, GTB would like to become a thought leader to encourage other employers to launch their own programs. Ideally, we’d like Returnships to become as commonplace as internships.

Written By: Debra McAleer & Traci Armstrong

GTB Life

Nice to meet you. We’re GTB. We’re a global creative team working together with a single mission: To make what matters. For people and for business.

GTB

Written by

GTB

Nice to meet you. We’re GTB. We’re a global team working together with a simple purpose: To make what matters. For people. For business.

GTB Life

GTB Life

Nice to meet you. We’re GTB. We’re a global creative team working together with a single mission: To make what matters. For people and for business.

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