Back in business: How returnship is getting women back to work

When the pandemic-triggered Great Resignation brought waves of attrition to an already tight labor market, the leadership team at the software company for which I serve as CHRO knew we needed to tap new sources of talent in order to keep growing. 

We also knew that while many people were leaving their jobs, there was a significant pool of highly- qualified people, many of them women, who were standing on the sidelines, wanting to rejoin the workforce but lacking a clear pathway for doing so. 

Thus was born a program for training people to return to the workforce that, close to three  years later, has become a fixture within our company because of the substantial benefits it's providing to the business and the participants themselves. Under the program, which we've dubbed Encore, we recruit women with previous professional experience who have been out of work for an extended period and give them training, reskilling or upskilling and mentoring, either in a field in which they have prior experience, or in a field that's new to them. The goal is for them to rejoin the workforce after completing the program, either at our company or elsewhere. 

Read more:  4 ways organizations fail to upskill and retain their talent

The concept is called returnship, and it appears slowly to be catching on. Christine Winston of Path Forward, an organization that promotes the concept, recently estimated there are now between 200 and 225 companies that have offered returnship programs in the U.S. 

The returnship program at Unanet serves multiple purposes. Most importantly, it's designed to elevate women, a segment that experienced steeper job losses than men early in the pandemic. What's more, we're a woman-founded business that cares deeply about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace, so the Encore program fits our company ethos and culture. And it provides inroads into a largely untapped talent pool at a time when finding quality employees is especially challenging. 

Today, Encore is exceeding expectations on all those fronts. Our initial returnship graduate is thriving in a full-time graphic designer role here, and other grads have successfully parlayed the program into full-time work. Company leaders rave about program participants being fast learners who fit our culture and work style. And not only is Encore helping Unanet meet its DEI goals, it's also raising awareness of our brand. 

The outcomes from the program have been so positive for participants as well as our company that we're now expanding it. Recently we started recruiting directly for full-time entry-level positions, and we're building new flexibility into the program by relaxing requirements that recruits be out of the workforce for at least 12 months, and that they have an undergraduate degree from an accredited college or university. By doing so, we'll be able to connect with even more talented, qualified people. We also recently put out a call to our internal teams to gauge interest in having returners join us for a winter session. 

Read more:  4 ways upskilling can diversify your workforce

As positive a force as Encore is proving to be inside our company, experience has taught us a lot about how to set up a returnship program for success. Here are some suggestions:

1. Define the types of candidates you want to recruit, the set of skills you want to develop, and the end game
We consider Encore to be a long-term part of our HR strategy that focuses on empowering women who want to re-enter the workforce after an extended hiatus. We consider participation in the program a success if it leads to employment, whether it's with our company or elsewhere. Besides providing job-specific skills development, we've tailored training to provide baseline business communications and technology skills, develop resiliency to manage through the stress, anxiety and change that comes with returning to the workplace, and thrive in a virtual/hybrid work environment. We're also focusing on developing their collaboration, networking and relationship-building skills, while beefing up the mentorship aspect of the program by pairing participants with mentors/ambassadors.

2. Prioritize early leadership buy-in
Getting Unanet's executive team behind the program from its earliest stages has been essential to Encore's success. In laying a foundation for the program, we outlined a clear case to them about why returnship is a good fit for the company. 

3. Align the program with markets your organization serves
We opened our returnship program to ex-military personnel because government contracting in the military/defense arena represents one of our key markets. 

Read more:  Upskilling gives immigrant workers a chance to restart their careers

4. Leverage alliances with kindred organizations
Aligning with local women's centers, women-in-technology organizations, veterans' resource groups and the like has helped generate broad awareness of and interest in Encore. 

5. Measure the progress and impact of the program, gather feedback and be open to making adjustments on the fly
The feedback we've gathered from Encore participants and the people who manage them (via surveys, one-on-one touch-bases, etc.) has enabled us to improve the program, such as by introducing special training for managers of returners. We also consistently measure the extent to which the program is meeting the needs of recruits and the business.

So far, the measurements we've taken suggest our returnship program isn't just meeting expectations, it's exceeding them. Here at Unanet, the returns on returnship are indeed strong.