Are you worried about the ‘gap’ on your CV? Or the amount of time you’ve had out and how things may have changed in the fast-paced working world? For many women the ‘gap’ on a CV due to having a career break, can affect confidence and often the desire to return to work. As a result, women tend to turn to jobs that offer more flexibility tend to be lower paid, voluntary opportunities or self-employment. Whilst there is nothing wrong with these options, it’s important to recognise that some women don’t return back to the roles they were trained and qualified to do before their career break. These women are sometimes referred to as the ‘Lost Women’.
This blog helps you to work out why this is and explore a fairly new concept in the West Midlands called ‘Returnships’ – programmes that can benefit both the individual returning to work and the employer.
Last week research from PwC highlighted that two-thirds of professional women go into lower-skilled or lower-paid roles, or work fewer hours than they prefer, when they return to work after a career break. Women take career breaks for various reasons, mainly due to bringing up children. 3 out of 5 women in the UK on a career break are likely to enter lower-skilled roles when they return to work. They also discovered that a further 29,000 women returning to the workplace are forced to work fewer hours than they want due to a lack of flexible working.
The research found that the UK economy could see a £1.7bn boost if there were more women in the workplace and more female leaders.
Employers are starting to further explore the ‘career returners’ market as a source of untapped labour. It’s a fact: there’s significant underutilised potential in this talent pool.
So what is a ‘Returnship’ Programme?
‘Returnship’ programmes are modelled on ‘internships’ for professional women who have taken an extended career break and are looking to go back into the workplace. Goldman Sachs who trademarked the concept as ‘returnships’ pioneered the initiative in New York back in 2008. ‘Returnships ‘have since become hugely successful in both the USA and more recently in the UK. Schemes have been launched mainly in London, with this trend growing up and down the country.
How do ‘Returnships’ Programmes work?
Returnship programmes are returning internships for professionals. They are paid, short-term contracts typically lasting between 10-12 weeks. The participant takes on a commercial role that reflects their skills, experience and interests. Experienced coaches provide coaching and training support to the returner during the programme. It gives the returner an opportunity to gain up to date work experience, build their confidence and a chance to ease back into the world of work.
Why do we need Returnships?
Although many corporate organisations have a fairer gender split at entry level, women remain under represented in middle management, senior posts and on corporate boards. Prime carers for children remain predominantly women and it’s usually at this stage they take a career break to care for children. Resuming to work, at the level the returner left, often proves to be a challenge, with inflexible working hours, a CV gap and reduced confidence. For many women these challenges alone can prevent them returning to work and fulfilling their career ambitions.
Well-managed Returnships are advantageous to both the employer and the employee. Not only do they help the employee to kick start their career again, rebuild confidence and open up new opportunities. They also offer employers a chance to assess if the employee is suitable for the role, whilst exploring practical ways to improve and support gender diversity to help fill roles where often women are underrepresented. This is also appealing to many organisations where they may be struggling to increase the number of women in specialist roles.
Career-Mums and Returnships/ Relaunch Programme
Career-Mums are here to raise the profile of women who have taken a career break and provide the link between employer and employee. Women who have taken the time out to raise their children remain an untapped talent pool. Through our professional network we are here to broker this process. We also believe this to be possible in any sector and support women like you to explore these options.
We are encouraged by the interest in returnships with employers in the West Midlands already and we are looking to develop further relationships in a broad range of sectors and roles. Supporting gender diversity in the work place, easing the transition for women back to work and showing UK organisations that people are able come back from career breaks in to meaningful and productive roles. The majority of returnship’s offer a degree of flexibility such as reduced and or flexible hours. It helps you as a returner to re-gain your professional identity in the workplace, leaving you more fulfilled and giving you a greater sense of purpose.
