Career paths are growing increasingly choppy. For a long time, women were the ones most affected by interruptions in their careers, often motivated by familial considerations. Today, the phenomenon extends beyond that context and is growing in scale. More and more employees are taking pauses in their careers: personal project, time for reflection, partial retraining, etc. However, it is not always easy to get back into the professional flow, which has itself not been interrupted. This challenge concerns employees as much as companies: the latter have every interest to make the most of this workforce—which often returns with renewed dynamism.

This is why certain organizations have implemented specific support programs. Mastercard and Amazon, for example, offer programs running over a 12- to 16-week duration, aimed at any new employee joining the company after taking an extended career break.  Others target this population to attract employees in areas in which they need to reinforce their capabilities. Certain subsidiaries of Avanade, an IT services company, provide financial assistance to women undertaking to retrain in the IT field. And you, what do you offer employees to get back in the saddle after a career break?

Source: Working Women and the War for Talent, Bianca Bax, Andrew Schwedel, Fai Assakul, Nicole Bitler, Bain & Company, September 2022.