With so much discussion on the large numbers of employees expecting to retire in the next few years, there is a focus on the loss of expertise and how to bridge that gap. According to statistics from the Federal Reserve, 19 percent of employees are aged 62 or older. The answer for many seems to be women who are looking to return to the workforce after having been absent for a period of time.
Women “returners” or “sequencers” leave the business world for a variety of reasons, perhaps to raise children or care for relatives. The Center for Work-Life Policy conducted a survey earlier in 2007. The 2,443 women respondents had graduate, professional or other high-honor undergraduate degrees. Of that group, 904 women who were highly qualified and 1,051 who were women with children had left the workforce for a period of time. Of these women, 93 percent said they wanted to return to their careers, but only 74 percent were able to find a niche. And only 5 percent of highly qualified women who want to return to work are interested in rejoining their old company…with 0 percent wanting to rejoin their company in the business sectors. CPRi, an interim marketing company, which did a survey on mothers returning to the workforce found that 70 percent of stay-at-home moms were interested in working part-time.
So what does this mean for human resources and training and development?
- When women leave the workforce, create an environment employees want to come back to. IBM implemented an extended leave of absence policy that allows employees up to three years of extended leave while maintaining an open door for them to return either full or part-time. Booz Allan Hamilton also has an adjunct program for employees who have left to maintain some level of involvement.
- There’s a niche for helping women become re-acquainted with business topics they may have missed while being absent from the work place for a time. Lehman Brothers uses their Encore program to offer these refresher courses.
- Well-qualified women are available and looking for employment, but gaps in their resumes appear to be a hindrance to future employment. Encourage managers to look beyond the gap and be willing to interview otherwise highly-qualified applicants.
- Consider other options to attract and retain all employees. Flexible schedules, telecommuting, part-time employment and job sharing, increased training, and additional health care coverage are all ideas coming into more popularity.
This article was re-uploaded from our internal archive.
