Attracting Career Returners to Your Organisation

Hello Subscribers,

Attracting and retaining career returners should be a key point on your diverse talent attraction strategy. Employing career returners would lead to improvements in your company’s gender, ethnic, and age diversity!

Who are career returners?

Career returners are those who take a break from paid employment for over a year.

Reasons for career breaks vary, but are commonly because of caring responsibilities, such as parents who take parental leave. People may also take career breaks due to a disability, injury, or caring for loved ones.

Supporting a return to work

To welcome career returners back to the workplace, companies have programmes in place to act as a pathway back into full-time work. These schemes, also known as “returnships”, ensure returners are in well-paying and high-responsibility roles relative to their skills.

Benefits of Career Returners

• A highly skilled workforce: career returners may bring a range of skills from their previous experience, and new expertise they may have gained from upskilling during their career break.
• Motivation: career returners are highly motivated and prepared to make a positive impact. This could lead to better business outcomes.
• Reduced inequalities: employing career returners could address the gender and ethnicity pay gap, and improve gender representation in leadership.

Tips on Integrating Career Returners

? Provide dedicated coaching, mentoring and other support to nurture their career development.

? Offer assistance throughout the entire recruitment process to ensure returners’ success.

? Design roles with flexibility in mind for returners’ smooth integration and commitments, such as caring responsibilities.

Trends and Stats

?? Mothers who leave employment are three times more likely to return to lower-paid, low responsibility roles than those who do not take a break (Career Returners UK)

?? 43-48% of employer applicant tracking systems filtered out CVs with employment gaps of over 6 months. (Harvard Business School, 2021)

?? 17% of women leave employment completely in the five years following childbirth, compared to 4% of men. (UK Government Equalities Office, 2019)

Case Studies: Returnships

Lloyds Banking Group: ?This returner programme is designed for those who wish to return to permanent, full-time employment after a career break of at least 18 months. Their roles are exclusively available for returners, with access to personal development resources and dedicated support from the returnee’s line manager.

Bank of England: BoE’s 12-month returner programme is designed for candidates with a minimum career-break of two years. Candidates will be operating and influencing at a senior level, with hybrid working and flexible working policies. Returnees will also benefit from coaching sessions and mentoring.

Media of the Week

Youtube: Phrases Older Workers Hear Used by Recruitment Agencies | Channel 4: Too Old to Work

Your Next Steps to Attract Career Returners

At Royse Inclusive Training, we specialise in helping organisations attract and retain diverse talent. Let us support your efforts by booking a complimentary strategy session tailored to your goals.

?? Contact us at [email protected] to start discuss how we can support your organisation in attracting career returners!