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Return of the working women as companies hire former employees

This April, Axis Bank launched a programme called ′Re-connect′, offering jobs to former women employees who have left the system in the past 10 years, in select states. The bank now plans to take it national. In January, Google rolled out gCareer, inviting qualified women professionals who have taken a break from active working life for a year or longer to work with the internet giant.

Google and Axis Bank are among a rising number of companies opening their doors to female executives who gave up their jobs for personal reasons and want to return to work, mainly because such women form a sizeable portion of the qualified workforce in India, hiring them can save time and cost for companies as they have proven talent and empirical data suggests that returning career women tend to be loyal to companies.

"There is a huge talent potential and we are tapping into the untapped pool of talent," says David Lobo, head human resources at GE India, which launched an initiative for returning women a couple of years ago. "Global research shows that women who have come back into the workforce have higher loyalty and we are betting on empirical data," he says.

Investment bank JP Morgan will soon pilot a customised re-entry programme for women alumni, which gives past employees an opportunity to come back to work, first through an internship and then a full-time role.

"A significant number of talented women drop out of the workforce due to unavoidable reasons such as raising a family or caring for an elder. But often we find that many of these women want to return to the workforce once their responsibilities have eased. And given their value, we′d like to have them back," says Rachna Bahadur, the investment bank′s MD, who is also executive sponsor for JP Morgan′s ′Women in Networking′ (WIN) initiative in India.

"At JP Morgan, we stay in touch with these women for up to three years after their leaving through ′Home Coming′ letters and recruitment drives that allow them to come back and explore opportunities with us," she adds.

The company recently launched a Diversity Scorecard to track progress on the programme around hiring, retaining and promoting women talent.

Axis Bank′s ′Re-connect′ aims to reach to Axis women alumni through its existing employees (referral). The bank now plans to launch a website where its women alumni can register themselves after which they will go through an interview and other procedures.

Rajesh Dahiya, head HR at Axis Bank, says that since customers of the bank are equally divided among genders, people who design and deliver the bank′s products also need to be equal. Axis will soon take the ′Reconnect′ programme — currently operational in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh — across the country.

Google hired five experienced women professionals with diverse backgrounds and experiences who had taken a break from active working life in less than three months of launching ′gCareer′.

"We recognise that getting back to work after a break can be a frustrating process. Lack of opportunities, finding roles that do justice to the applicants′ aspirations and career goals and also offer great work-life balance are pretty daunting obstacles for many women professionals looking to come back to active careers," says Sharad Goyal, head of people operations at Google India.

GE India, which started a pilot initiative for returning women called ′Restart′ a couple of years ago, plans to expand it this year. The programme, which so far focused on technology talent, will be launched in other functions such as manufacturing, sourcing, sales and marketing.

"We started off ′Restart′ focusing on technology organisations and had about 35 people in the pilot phase. Now, we see an opportunity to take it to other functions," says Lobo of GE India. The company plans to hold an event in Bangalore to get 10-15 women back in jobs, followed by a similar event in Gurgaon in June, he says. "The CEO himself is betting on the initiative," says Lobo.