Making the Return to Work Actually Work
Stepping back in shouldn’t be an “all or nothing” experience
Taking that initial step back into the workforce after a career break can be incredibly daunting. Discovering opportunities at the appropriate level, striking the right work pattern balance, and finding a cultural fit all prove challenging for returners. However, it’s been refreshing to find that more women are now able to leverage specialty headhunters and “returnships” to navigate their way back to a fulfilling career path.
This wasn’t always the case. Not long ago, many so-called “returnships,” particularly in financial services, were structured more for promotion than practicality. One of my peers joined an investment banking returnship programme only to find she was expected to work 80–100 hours a week in the office with no junior support. Less than half of the dozen women who participated were ultimately offered any type of employment at the end of the intense programme. One year later, only three women remained with the bank at all.
Now, it appears more corporates and financial services companies understand the importance of flexible work and scaling up as parents ease back into the workplace. There are returnships that aim to create roles that best suit a returner’s particular skillset as opposed to pushing her towards a pre-determined role. Some programmes even offer four-day workweeks or longer holiday periods that coincide with the school calendar.
While this is excellent progress, there are a few large corporates (mainly within finance and tech) that tend to dominate the “returnship” space and discovering opportunities beyond them is still difficult. Many highly skilled women I know are keen to re-enter the workforce but often in an industry or capacity that falls out of the remit of more formal “returnships.”
It seems that these more “flexible” options (as opposed to the returnship path) do exist, but are often created once one has established themselves within a company as opposed to being discovered externally. Many companies already offer strategic advisory or programme management roles to those already active in their workplace. Perhaps they could also advertise these externally to capture top talent looking to return.
In my own career, I experienced three maternity leaves with AppNexus (currently Xandr). I was impressed not only with how they structured my returns, but also with how they approached flexibility with fellow AppNexians throughout their careers. Some best practices included:
- Facilitating open conversations between the employee, HR, and managers about the employee’s skillset, desired work pattern, and career goals.
- Internal management convening regularly to flesh out and highlight discrete projects, programmes, and consulting opportunities that may suit employees looking for more flexible work or exposure to other areas of the business.
- Carefully structuring new roles between HR, Management, and the employee to ensure it both works for the employee and adds value to the company.
- Thoughtfully socialising new, flexible roles with those impacted teams to set work pattern expectations and ensure buy-in.
- Leveraging employee networks to bring in top talent and maintain culture.
We are clearly moving in the right direction but we still have a way to go. The best way to ensure highly qualified talent remains in the workforce long-term is to be thoughtful about offering roles that support a variety of work patterns and to allow for better job discovery. It shouldn’t be a “returnship or bust” scenario for large businesses with dedicated resources only. If roles are carefully structured and advertised in the right way, we can keep women active within the same company or even help them find new opportunities as they return from leave.
How does your company think about engaging either current or potential employees who are keen to return to the workplace? Are formal returnships their preferred path? Have part-time, flexible roles been included as part of the solution?
