In this competent world where everyone is thriving hard to maintain their jobs and grow at the workplace, women planning to head back to work post a career break, face a lot of challenges. Organizations too, have certain hesitations to hire women making a comeback and one of the reasons for this is the gap in the skill-set that has come into the picture due to the tenure of inactivity of the female candidate.

A woman might have been off-work for 2 years and while she is planning to return, things might have changed. The world is dynamic and competitive and the technology changes in the blink of an eye. The employment gap creates a doubt in the minds of recruiters regarding the skills, knowledge and expertise of the women and the most heated up question - ‘Will she be able to work like before?’

Little do recruiters understand that hiring women on a career break can prove very helpful for them as these are a lot with lots of talent which is often untapped. A woman planning to return to the work is extremely dedicated and has thought carefully of her career before proceeding.

Organizations often think of low cost-to-benefit ratio in case of upskilling women returnees, women too struggle to find a platform for them to make a successful comeback. The challenges faced by both sides should be addressed and efforts should be made to bridge the skill gap of women returnees.

What companies fear while hiring women returnees?

Many line managers are suspicious of the performance of women returnees and they also fear the cost to be incurred for re-training and instructing them. A common misconception about these women is that they are thought to not to live up to the expectations and work with peers. It is also thought that they might leave again. The changed priorities of women are also seen in a negative light and it is thought that they might not work as before due to the changes in them as a result of the changes in their personal life.

Major issues with women returnees

Emotional breakdown:

Women, especially in India, are expected to stay at home and look after the kids and family. There is a low level of understanding for their office work pressure and even if they are working professionally, they are expected to perform well in household chores. The concept of shared responsibility is not so popular yet.

For new mothers, returning to work is not easy. Leaving their child behind and going to work always keep them anxious regarding their kid’s safety. A woman is held responsible for anything going wrong with the domestic matters, whereas a man is hardly held responsible for the same. This creates an emotional pressure and a feeling of guilt in women and they often step back.

Discrimination with wages:

This is another issue faced by women returnees. Mostly the organizations don’t pay women returnees at par with other employees. Their past work experience and skills are not considered as such and assumptions are made from their employment gap. They are thought of as an employee who would take multiple work-from-home for various personal issues such as taking care of the child. This also hinders their chances for promotion, hindering their chances of growth.

Why making it back to the corporate world is difficult?

For women wanting to re-start their career with any company is quite challenging as they are often looked down upon. They also face issues with justifying their employment gap. They struggle with proving that their skills are still useful, despite of the gap in their work life.

Absence of flexible work timings, lack of work-from-home opportunities and leaves and inadequate family support force women to often step back or take up a job much lower than their standards or mismatching with their past work experience. This means that they must start all over again and constantly prove their worth and work to stay in the battle.

What companies can do to help these sheroes?

A woman plays various roles in her life and has an amazing art of balancing various things at a time. There is a hero in every woman, and she can shine if given a chance. All she needs is a little support. Rather than being paranoid and forming assumptions and going with the misconceptions and stereotypes, organizations need to develop sustainable ways to help women returnees.

Mentioned below are some ways which organizations can adopt to help women returnees:

Adjustable working time for fathers:

To see the change, we want to see in the world, we need to be the one. Why let women do everything? Men are equally responsible for their family. The concept of shared responsibility should be promoted, and the fathers/men should be given the facility of flexible working hours so that they can help in the household work and taking care of the family. Instead of just giving women the flexibility in the work hours, give men some too. This will lead to men actively participating in sharing the responsibility with their female partner.

Hold internship programs:

With the ever-changing technology, it is important to stay updated. Companies rather than thinking training and internships as a costly affair, should invest in re-skilling their women employees who have made a comeback. This can prove to be a profitable situation for both. These internship programs would help women returnees to brush-up their skills and the organization would also be able to judge their capabilities and think of turning them into a permanent employee. Skillful women returnees can be hired as full-time employees with the salaries at par with the existing employees of similar caliber. This way, women would not face wage discrimination.

Offering childcare assistance:

A woman is a mother, and a mother is the most worried person when it comes to the safety and well-being of her child. Organizations can aid with childcare and can have a tie-up with day-care centers or go for an in-house creche facility. This will enable the women to work freely without worrying much about their child and perform freely without any feeling of guilt or emotional pressure.

Inform women returnees about the required skills:

The best way to make someone perform accordingly is to state what is expected of them. Organizations can make use of job boards, online communities, etc. to connect with the women returnees and tell them what skills they are expecting from them for the roles they are applying for. By guiding them correctly, companies would get a dedicated and focused set of employees. This also would cut-down the training costs of the companies as the candidates would know what to upgrade.

Provide reviews:

A woman making her comeback would try hard to prove herself. By giving women returnees frequent reviews, you would make clear that what are your expectations and where do they fall. Giving them reviews would help in measuring their performance and women performing exceptionally good continuously, can be given rewards.

Women making a comeback are a highly dedicated and committed lot and has a lot of potential. One needs to attend them and utilize this often-untapped opportunity to hire good resources. In a society, where we are thriving to establish equality in terms of gender, developing a sustainable way of encouraging the women returnees and getting them back to work can prove to be a grand step towards women empowerment.

Turacoz Foundation is working towards women empowerment and supporting them to re-start their career. We believe that “A Woman is more than just a Gender”.

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