It’s that manic run-up-to-Christmas time again: finishing off the year’s projects, fitting in school end-of-term events, making holiday arrangements and somewhere in-between finding presents and writing cards. If your To Do list is feeling overwhelming, you can best reduce your stress levels by acting against your natural instincts …

Pause and Breathe

• Resist the urge to race around and do three things at once; instead consciously slow your pace and focus on doing one thing at a time. Often we pride ourselves as Queens of Multi-tasking, and a whirlwind of activity can feel productive. However cognitive research has found that it’s far more efficient for our brains to focus on just one task – we tend to complete it faster, better and with less energy (here’s the science behind it, if you’re still sceptical: Multitasking Switching Costs).

• Rather than not stopping from the moment you wake in the morning to the moment you collapse at night, take 5 minutes once or twice a day to sit quietly, slow your breathing down and do nothing (yes, not even checking your emails). Our minds need time to recharge, otherwise our energy gets more and more depleted until we reach collapse point. Even a short pause can break this cycle.

Season’s Greetings

Thank you for following our Back to your Future blog. We hope that we
have been a source of advice, support and inspiration to you this year.

We’re taking a festive break for a few weeks and will be back in the New Year!

All Best Wishes for 2016 from The Women Returners Team

Last month my youngest child turned 18 and I suddenly found myself in the position of being a parent of two adults. While this has been a long-anticipated state, my focus has been on my daughter’s multiple celebrations not what her new adult status meant for me. Now, as she prepares to follow her brother to university next year, I am finally contemplating my empty nest.

In reality, I’ve been preparing myself for this stage since my children were born. Indeed, it was the fear of facing the prospect of an empty nest which ultimately propelled me into action with returning to my career, along with my desire to make a difference to society in some tangible way. When I retrained as an executive coach eleven years ago, I didn’t have a clear idea of where I would be going with my new qualification or how I would rebuild my career. But I was clear that I wanted to be engaged in work where I could lay foundations for a time when I would be freer to focus more on my own work than my family responsibilities.

My return to work was small scale at first. I was content to work with just a few clients and to continue to put the majority of my energy and focus into my family. As I gained experience (and with it confidence in my abilities) and my children grew up, I actively sought more clients and even accepted the occasional overseas assignment. Self-employment allowed me to forge a new career while retaining the parental role I wished to have. At the same time, it hasn’t always been easy and I had plenty of self-doubts along the way. The next major step I took in building up my work role was co-founding Women Returners, which has unintentionally provided another buffer to the empty nest effect. Our business and network are rapidly expanding, with the time and energy commitment that entails, as my involvement with my children’s lives is decreasing.

If you’re also motivated to return to work by the looming prospect of the empty nest, the good news is that there are many more routes back to work than existed even 10 years ago, with the arrival of returnships and our innovative supported hiring approach. Companies and government are also acknowledging that returners are a neglected population who have skills, training and experience which are valuable. If you are seeking ideas and inspiration for how to return to work before your children fly the nest, take a look at the success stories on our website and the blog posts in our advice section.

Posted by Katerina

Following a weekend when, with my teenage daughter, I attended a feminism conference and watched the harrowing and dramatic new movie, Suffragette, I have been reflecting on the progress of women in society in general and in the workforce in particular.

The conference reminded me that there are still many aspects of life where there is inequality for women, but the film brought home how much has changed for women since we were given the vote, which is itself a relatively recent event, happening less than 100 years ago in this country. Since then, our family law has enshrined that women are no longer the property of men, maternity rights and pay have been extended and the right to request flexible working and shared parental leave have been introduced. And in recent years there has been a focus on balancing the boardroom and addressing the gender pay gap. Indeed in the past week, the Government has announced a process requiring companies to report on the gender pay differential in their organisations and Lord Davies has announced an extension of the 25% target for women on boards, to 30%. This success is, in large part, a result of the work of the 30% Club.

Thinking about my own experience of the world of work, I again see progress. 20 years ago, I was the first person in my organisation to request to work part-time following my first maternity leave! When I stopped work after my mother became terminally ill and I was pregnant with my second child, there was a complete absence of support for women in my position. I resolved then to put my energies into contributing in some way to changing the experience for others. Since returning to work 10 years ago, I have been encouraged to see how enlightened employers now offer KIT days, maternity coaching and a variety of flexible working arrangements as they have recognised that they want to retain their female workforce. And Julianne and I have been delighted with the reception we continue to receive from organisations which are waking up to the neglected, but amazing, pool of talent that is women on extended career breaks. Our experience is that companies are acknowledging that women on career break are highly skilled and motivated and the companies are starting to work out ways to get you back into work.

Although many of these innovations seem normal now, none were easy to achieve and I’m very aware that there continue to be problems for women in the workforce which need to be resolved. But I am hopeful that things will be different – and better – for my daughter’s generation. Our conclusions from the conference were that we need to do more to get men on board with these issues and that to paraphrase Sophie Walker, the leader of the Women’s Equality Party, change will only happen through action, not words. We will be continuing to pursue the goals of Women Returners: what action will you take?

Posted by Katerina

Amir … RichardYoung@ … Sarah & Simon … TheJohnsons@ …

What’s in a name?

It sounds like a small thing, but don’t underestimate what your email name and address say about you. An email is often your first point of contact in your job exploration, be it for a networking connection or a recruitment application. In the same way as recent research* has found that you’re less likely to appear hirable to recruiters if you have a funny or informal email address, using a family, joint or husband’s mail name/address can affect how people see you. Your electronic identity risks labeling you as a mum or wife, with all the accompanying stereotypes, rather than the giving credible professional image you want to convey.

There is also something symbolic about setting up a personal email address for your back-to-work communications. If you’re at home looking after your family, it’s easy to lose sight of yourself while you’re caring for others and being someone’s mum/daughter. This is one simple way to start regaining your own independent identity.

How to create a professional email identity

1. If you only have a family or joint email, set up a personal one – it’s a 5 minute task using a provider such as hotmail or google mail.
2. Make sure that your work email address is a formal one, ideally some variation on your full name (eg. jane.price@xx.com).
3. Use the name you’ll be using for work and on your CV. Be consistent – don’t make your email your family name if you’ll be using your maiden name.
4. Whether it’s a new or an existing address, check how your email name appears when it’s received. You can see this by sending a test email. Make sure it’s your full name that comes up & if not change the user name in your email settings.
5. And, of course, make sure you add the new address to Outlook, your phone and anywhere else you monitor emails so you can easily monitor and promptly reply to all your work-related emails.

* Research from VU University Amsterdam in Cyberpsychology, Behavior & Social Networking journal

Related posts on the psychological side of regaining your identity
Reconnecting with your professional self
Who am I anyway?

Posted by Julianne

As one of the 14 million people who watched the Great British Bake Off final, I was as moved as many others by the winner, Nadiya’s spontaneous tearful declaration that she would never again place limits on herself. Nadiya’s comments resonated with me both as a fellow shortie and because of all my experience of women who’ve overcome their self-imposed limits to return to work after a long break. Nadiya, herself, stopped working 10 years ago when her first child was born.

I thought about all the people who tell me that they’re:

• too old
• too out-of-date
• too far behind in their knowledge and understanding
• too low in confidence
• too low in skills
• unable to manage work and their other commitments
• unable to decide among too many options
• lacking a network and even
• unemployable

and so are unable to return to their career.

And at the same time, I thought of all the women I’ve worked with and met through the years who have overcome what appeared to be insurmountable barriers and found a way back to work they enjoy, whether it be through a returnship, their revived network, further study, creating their own business or a direct application. You can read some of their stories here.

For those of you who are still uncertain about your next move, you don’t have to take the extreme step of applying for a national TV baking competition, but do think about some small steps that could put you onto the path towards returning to work and read some of the posts highlighted below. Above all, remind yourself of Nadiya’s comments to The Times: “You may be scared, you may doubt yourself but it doesn’t mean you can’t do it.”


Recommended posts to get past your barriers:
Am I being selfish by wanting to work?
Where’s my confidence gone?
Tackling perfectionism: is ‘good enough’ not good enough for you?
Too many choices
Too few choices: advice on identifying post break options
Do all working mothers have to feel guilty?
Are ‘shoulds’ ruling your return to work decisions?
How to make time for your return to work job search

Posted by Katerina

Posted by Julianne