Employer Services: Single Employer

 

We partner with employers across sectors to provide end-to-end support with designing, promoting and delivering a best practice returner programme, tailored to your organisation. From our extensive experience, we can maximise the likelihood that the programme is a success for both the returners and the business.

A returner programme may be one or a combination of the following:

  • A returnship programme, a higher level paid professional internship with support, specifically for returning professionals
  • Supported Hiring, bringing returning professionals directly into permanent roles with support
  • A retraining programme developed for returners, with suitable support
  • See our Returner Programme Dictionary for an outline of the different types of returner programme

Consulting: Returner Consultancy

  • We provide our partner clients with end-to-end support in terms of designing, recruiting and supporting return to work programmes and other initiatives to access the returner talent pool, on a cohort or rolling basis .
  • Taking learnings from our extensive experience, and using our Returner Programme Toolkit, we will work with you to to design a best practice and cost-effective returner initiative that attracts and supports experienced professionals on career break and that is tailored to your needs, structure, culture and commercial objectives, while also providing a positive participant experience.

Coaching: Returners Coaching Programme, Interviewer and Line Manager Briefing Sessions

  • We will deliver for you our proven, insight-led four-stage Career Returners Coaching Programme, specifically tailored for returning professionals, to offer support at each stage of the transition process. Our specialised expertise in coaching women returners enables us to address the practical and psychological challenges facing professionals returning to work after a multi-year break. This support facilitates a more rapid re-integration into the corporate environment, increases the contribution and the satisfaction of the returner and maximises the likelihood of a successful permanent hire. 
  • We also run virtual interactive briefing sessions:
    • Interviewer Briefing Session to enable recruiters and hiring managers to get the best out of returners in the interview process, including managing potential unconscious bias against women returners
    • Line Manager Briefing Sessions to enable managers to effectively support returning professionals through the return to work transition and to integrate them into their teams.

Connecting: Access to Career Returners

  • Through our Women Returners Professional Network, we provide access the hard-to-reach high-calibre segment of professionals on an extended career break: a largely untapped group of highly-qualified, experienced and motivated people, mostly female. We have a subscribed network of over 8,000 women returners and our website acts as a central portal for return-to-work information. We also reach professional women returners, together with male professionals on career break, through our extensive social media network and our strong links with professional associations, parents’ networks and alumnae groups.
  • We regularly co-host Returner Insight Events with our employer partners, either in-person or virtually. These provide a mix of engagement, information, support and networking opportunities.

Women Returners Conference Partnership

  • Our Women Returners Conference provides an opportunity for selected organisations to join us as corporate sponsors, highlighting your support for diversity and returners, showcasing your returner programme, and gaining privileged access to meet informally with a group of over 200 high-calibre women.
  • After sold out in-person Conferences in 2016, 2017 and 2019, we ran hugely successful virtual conferences in October 2020, 2021 and 2022. Our next virtual Conference is likely to be in May 2023. Contact us if you are interested in sponsorship opportunities.
tideway
"I believe that working with Women Returners is the most effective and efficient way to run a returner programme. They have the expertise, the networks and the knowledge and provide a specialised and independent source of support to HR and to the participant group. After 30 years in HR, I have extensive experience but not of supporting people back to work after long career breaks. Women Returners made this process easy for us and were a major factor in the success of the returnship. I would not run another programme without them."
Head of HR
Tideway
O2
“At O2 we are always looking for new ways to attract talent and specifically female talent in STEM. Women Returners provided us with a one stop shop of well qualified candidates and professional support to launch the first of our programmes. Julianne and the team at Women Returners supported us every step of the way, from supporting with the design of our recruitment process, helping to identify the candidates to shaping the programme and training. With a focussed and consultancy approach Women Returners were willing to tailor to suit the company and the requirements of the O2 programme. Following the success of the programme we sponsored the Women Returners Conference which was a massive success and again showed the amazing talent looking to return to the workplace.”
Diversity and Inclusion Manager
O2