Have you heard of the term “returnship” before? It refers to the return-to-work program that supports professionals who want to return to workplaces after a prolonged career break. The program is available to everyone, but most often to women through a female returnship program supporting mothers keen to come back to work. What is a successful returnship program for women, and how to properly design it? Let’s dig deeper to understand.
A female returnship program is designed to help women return to the workplace and kick-start their careers once again, usually after a prolonged period without employment. The are numerous reasons why women may experience extended career gaps. One of the most popular ones is maternity leave, which usually takes several months or years, however, women can also take a break from their careers when caring for children or elderly family members, pursuing higher education, relocating for a partner's job, or taking sabbaticals for personal or professional development.
A female returnship program is designed to assist women in returning to the workplace and reestablishing their careers after a prolonged period without employment. There are numerous reasons why women may experience extended career gaps, with maternity leave being one of the most prevalent factors, resulting in career breaks spanning months or even years. Additionally, other factors such as caregiving responsibilities for children or elderly family members, pursuing higher education, relocating for a partner's job, personal health issues, and sabbaticals for personal or professional development can also contribute to women taking a break from their careers.
Thanks to the changing perception of gaps in CV, more and more professionals feel confident to return to work after a career break and not be ashamed of it. According to EY, 1.8 million women left their jobs during the pandemic to care for children or due to other reasons, leaving a significant gap in the workforce. However, these professionals are motivated and ready to return to offices and catch up on processes they missed. And if the company has a successful returnship program in place, it makes lives easier for returning employees and companies that have lost that workforce for some time.
A returnship is similar to an internship, with the difference that the return-to-work program is usually fully paid, can be full-time or part-time, and includes mentorship and training provided for a person who returns to the workforce. The program usually has several requirements to apply, mostly related to the period of how long the person was out (the requirement can state that the minimum should be six months or one year). The returnship program may last from four weeks up to four months, with the ultimate goal of training the returnship employee and hiring returners.
Before getting into building a returnship program, it’s important to understand what benefits it brings to both a returner and the company organizing the program. Firstly, a person who returns to the workplace benefits immediately from returning to the office environment, or if remotely, from being within a group of people supporting the return.
A returner gets mentorship and training support that allows a person not only to learn new processes and apply them in practice but also to be comfortable with asking questions and understanding the new ways how the company functions. A person gets back the confidence lost while having a career gap, gets back on track, and is motivated to kick start the career again.
For women, the returnship program allows them to return to the workforce after a long break, increasing self-worth and removing imposter syndrome. In most cases, female returnship initiatives benefit greatly and motivate women to return to their career path or define the next steps if a new career is chosen. Most importantly, it removes stress and fear of not being employed again and opens doors to a new chapter of life.
The company that organizes the returnship program also benefits from the professionals coming back, first by removing the prejudice of gap in CV as something negative and accessing the talent pool that before was overlooked. The company also increases the morale in the workplace, showing inclusivity and acceptance, and shares a good image outside the company, motivating others to join. If the returnship program goes well, the company has instant access to a highly trained and enthusiastic employee who can start bringing business value immediately.
A successful returnship program usually consists of best practices that are introduced widely, no matter in what industry the returnship program is running. When designing a program, a company should remember all details, from the type of contract to the steps once the returnship program is over and what a returner will gain during the program.
Regarding returnship best practices, it’s great to think of everything the person returning to the workplace wants to improve and learn after a long break. The program can cover each stage of a returner, from getting back to the workplace and meeting new teams to participating in mentoring and defining new career goals or strengthening old ones.
The program is usually supported by returnship buddies who guide returns along their program journey and help them in case of need. Once the returner learns new skills or remembers old ones that were used a long time ago, the company can also commit to hiring successful returners by giving them a test or final interview with a team or department where a new hire is needed.
Let’s go step by step to understand how to design a successful returnship program.
The first and most crucial step is to validate the idea of a returnship program with the company’s stakeholders and executives. Before getting into returnship program implementation, analyzing some data and supporting your pitch with your findings is necessary. For example, you can look into the number of employees who went on parental leave or sabbatical and haven’t returned, check the number of new hires for the same period, and compare both with the number of employees planned to be hired. This way, you will understand the missed opportunity if those who left could be returned and trained again.
The program needs to be validated mainly through Talent Acquisition, HR, and department leaders who look to return or hire more employees to help with the workload. Think of all details required beforehand – for example, how long it would last, what are the criteria to apply, and if there’s a commitment to hiring after the program is over.
When it comes to administration, create returnship program guidelines and think of how the program will look from a legal point of view and what is the employment status of the returner (it can be contractor, freelance, full-time, part-time), and what benefits are they entitled to, if any. Also, think of the final process once the returnship program is over and consider what steps there might be before ordering a returner a job or suggesting other options outside the company if unsuccessful.
Once the returnship program guidelines are set, it’s time to get in touch with Talent Acquisition, HR, and hiring managers and define what departments or teams would benefit from returners. And in the same time, think about what skills returners already might have and where they would fit nicely and apply their existing knowledge or learn even more.
Define the number of total returners that will be included during this run of the returnship program, and also think of departments that need to improve diversity. For example, female returners might benefit from learning to code or conduct data analysis, while the departments offering these roles will improve their diversity and inclusion.
As the last step, build a job description that will be shared as part of the returnship program application. To ensure candidates don’t feel pressured for their career break, the job description should have a statement confirming that a career gap is required for this role. Also, mention that the candidate doesn’t need to meet all requirements but at least half of them, eliminating the fear of imposter syndrome from returners.
Until now, the returners have applied, got accepted, and the returnship program has started running. While the returnship program should include proper training, guidance from returnship buddies and open feedback will also benefit greatly. Also, the returnship program should be closely interconnected with the employee mentoring program; if female returners are considered, the program should be mentoring female employees.
The workplace mentoring program usually helps current employees with their career goals and growth within the role. Similarly, the mentoring program will help returners define their areas of improvement and find ways to reach career goals effectively. Once the mentoring program is up and running, it promotes diversity and inclusion, showing team members, returners, and external stakeholders that the company cares for its employees, no matter if there is a career gap in between.
By this point, the returnship program is in full swing, and a returner learns new skills, collaborate with teams, and applies knowledge in practice, where available. A mentorship program is also ongoing, and a returner discusses the career path and sets the right priorities for the future. In parallel, it's a great time to improve the confidence of someone participating in the returnship program to eliminate imposter syndrome and fear of not being accepted because of a career gap.
There are many ways to improve returners' confidence, and a mentorship program should tackle some points during the 121 discussions. What also can be done is an introduction to coaching, where a returner gets to talk with a professional coach and deep dive into biases and beliefs, blocking them from having a successful career even with a career gap. The company can also include a workshop on how to adjust the CV and LinkedIn profile based on currently gained experience. Lastly, the company can find other companies where the returnship program runs as well and organize a quick exchange meeting, sending returners to different environment, widening their connections, and improving networking skills.
After four, six, or 20 weeks the returnship program is over. It's essential to define the final steps for a returner right at the beginning and follow the same at the end. The company should benchmark how many returners they plan to hire after the program ends. Considering all the time invested in training, mentoring, and knowledge sharing, the company should stay committed to offering a full-time job. At the same time, a returner should keep motivated and accept to continue the career journey.
To summarize, the successful returnship program should help professionals, especially women who took a long career break, to get back to the workforce easily, learn all necessary skills, define a clear career path, set SMART goals, and get employed full-time. Ultimately, the program benefits both a returner and a company, removing all biases connected with longer career gaps and supporting professionals that still have much energy and motivation to deliver the best business results.
Would you like to implement a mentoring program within your returnship program? Then don't hesitate to contact Femme Palette.
