How career returnship programmes boost diversity in your business

Learn why businesses are introducing returnships to help staff members return to work and how they are boosting diversity. Our Head of Diversity & Inclusion, Yvonne Smyth, provides the latest statistics and industry insights.

The rise of returnships: Key insights

• More employees are taking 2+ year career gaps than previously for travel breaks, childcare, and personal reasons
• Returnships help employees re-enter work effectively after prolonged time off and are used by companies like Unilever and Microsoft
• Marginalised groups typically find it harder to readjust to working life. Returnships can help boost diversity by supporting employees' mental health and logistical needs.
• Returnships benefit employers, too, by cutting staff turnover and improving the chance of retaining quality team members after a break.

If returnships have piqued your interest, keep reading to learn more about how the scheme works and its benefits.

Contact Yvonne Smyth, Head of Diversity & Inclusion at Hays to take your interest further.

What are returnships?

Returnship programmes are a new scheme designed to help employees transition back into working life with an existing employer.

Workers are increasingly taking time out from their careers. ‘Returnship’ programmes help organisations effectively and efficiently bring them back. In the latest Hays Journal, we explore what you need to consider before implementing such programmes.

Why are businesses creating returnships?

The lack of availability of key skills keep CEO’s up at night. Businesses are also anxious about economic growth and the pressure to build diverse workforces that can outpace the competition.

A widening skills gap is forcing employers to look at a group of candidates who have been trained and are highly experienced but are not in work. These workers stepped out of their careers for sabbaticals, care responsibilities, or because they have had to deal with long-term sickness.

Returnship programmes aim to solve the skills gap by helping qualified people return to work. The scheme is growing in popularity because they benefit both parties. The returnees are keen to restart their career in a supported and phased way. The organisations can tap into much-needed new talent without training a new person from scratch.

There are now more than 90 returnship schemes globally, with activity based mainly in the US, UK and India, according to iRelaunch, a US-based consultancy for employers and returners. Examples of large firms adopting this approach include PayPal, Willmott Dixon, Target, Microsoft, Unilever, IBM, Vodafone and Dell.

3 benefits to creating a returnship at your business

Returnship schemes improve diversity

Dr Jo Ingold, Associate Professor of Human Resource Management and Public Policy at Leeds University Business School, says that more and more employers are investing in returnships. Businesses need to attract and retain talent, address skills shortages, and further the diversity agenda.

“Businesses have found value in building a more diverse workforce because they want to reflect their customer base,” she says. “Returnship programmes can be one way of creating opportunities to be more diverse; for example, by getting more women into senior roles.”

Women are typically more responsible for caring for family members, so they are more likely to stop working. Figures from the UK’s Office for National Statistics published in February 2018 showed that 1.9 million UK women and 240,000 men were not in paid employment because they were looking after family and home.

Returnships help employees feel happier and reach their full potential

The prime advantage for the returner is the chance to relaunch their career and work in a job that properly utilises their skills and experience. These programmes often allow them to return in a supported part-time or flexible role before taking on a full-time position later.

Research published by PwC in 2016 highlighted that two-thirds of returning professional women work beneath their potential. This is down to a combination of factors, says the study. These include a lack of flexible and part-time roles in higher-skilled jobs. Employers can also be put off by CV gaps and assume that a candidate no longer has the relevant skills.

A programme called Career by Choice (CBC) run by Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) in India has recruited more than 80 returners since it began in 2011, across roles or projects in marketing, HR, finance, IT and more. They are hiring back qualified and ambitious women currently on a career break to build a talent pipeline for full-time managerial roles in the company. 

Returnships benefit employers by bringing talented staff back to work

Returnship programmes give employers access to ready-trained, high-quality staff members. Any good returnship programme is structured correctly throughout, from compensation to the development of the cohort. 

Sarah Churchman, UK Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing at PwC, admits the numbers being recruited to the Back to Business programme (around 12 a year) remain small. “It’s something we are keen to grow,” she says.

“However, it’s such a valuable channel for attracting talent. Individuals we have recruited on the back of it have really wowed us. Their experience means we are learning from them, so we benefit hugely. We would have missed out on that talent were it not for the programme.”

Your returnship must be flexible if it is going to be successful

Sarah Churchman is UK Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing at PwC, which introduced its Back to Business returnship programme around three years ago. She agrees that employers shouldn’t go down this route, thinking it’s an easy option.

“People returning to the world of work are very diverse,” she says. “They have all got different career histories and personal lives. It’s difficult to develop a one-size-fits-all programme. We learned early on that the scheme needs to be flexible, so you can meet the needs of the individual who joins you.”

PwC found that it had to adjust the length of its placements, for example, quickly discovering that it had made them too short.

“Originally, we set it as eight to 12 weeks, but it’s now 16 weeks, as there was too much to fit in,” Churchman says. She also notes that PwC has had to be responsive to returners’ needs around working patterns or hours. 

“We realised that returners don’t necessarily want to return to work full-time or permanently, which had been our original intention. We plan to bring them back into the business and upskill and deploy them when they want to work and when we need them. It’s like a corporate version of the gig economy, and it keeps us relevant and attractive to talented professionals.”

What to do next if your business interested in returnships

When creating a returnship, start small and use data to inform your approach. It would help if you also made guiding aims and outcomes for your returnship experience. Finally, don’t forget to communicate concisely and often with staff about the new programme,

If you’re serious about returnships, work with a consultant at Hays. We’ve been helping organisations align their recruitment efforts with HR best practices for decades. Speak to your local office for support by following this link.

You can also explore our dedicated diversity hub here to learn more about our commitment to inclusion in the workplace.