Supporting women returning to work after a career break

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Research shows that women’s careers often stagnate, stall, or stop after taking a career break to have a baby.

Putting the right support in place helps smooth this transition and retain (or gain) valuable talent. It can even reduce your organisation’s gender pay gap by enabling women to build the confidence, skills and opportunities to move into, or remain in senior leadership roles.

In this episode of the HR Coffee Time podcast, host Fay Wallis, speaks to guest, Sally Dhillon from Career Mums.

Sally covers the barriers people face when returning after a break, what good support looks like and how returnships are being used to plug skills gaps and support those who want to reignite their careers after taking a break.

Key Points From This Episode

[01:35] Introduction to Sally Dhillon

[02:39] The work Career Mums does to support women with their careers

[05:49] Barriers that prevent people from returning to work after a break

[06:56] The impact of childcare costs on career progression and returning to work

[08:02] The barriers of health issues and the pandemic in returning to work

[09:34] What putting support in place for those returning to work can look like

[11:27] Maternity coaching explained

[15:03] Supporting those returning to work post-pandemic with working from home and flexible working

[17:07] The consequences of not getting it right in supporting women returning to work

[19:00] Addressing the gender pay inequalities

[20:27] Returnship programmes – what they are and how they work

[23:02] Using returnship programmes within organisations

[24:18] Successes using returnships

[25:52] Example from companies that are doing well with supporting those returning to work

[28:24] Tips for those who have had an extended break from work in finding their next role or transitioning back to the company that they worked for

[32:02] Formal and informal support networks for returning to work

[34:02] Sally’s book recommendation

Useful Links From This Episode

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If you’re kind enough to leave a review, please do let Fay know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: fay@brightskycareercoaching.co.uk.

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