Key learnings from the Diversity Network on « Supporting career breaks »
Last Friday, Vodafone hosted our Diversity Network on « Supporting career breaks » in the context of the International Women’s Rights Day. 28 participants have had the opportunity to learn more about Vodafone’s D&I strategy as well as to discover it’s Reconnect programme, which gives women who have been off the job market for several years to gain self-confidence and to integrate or reintegrate a career within Vodafone.
This approach aims at breaking stereotypes by considering career breaks, notably after maternity or parental leave, as part of life and thus as part of the career management process in order to attract and retain not only female talent but also young and less young talents.
The Job Tailors highlighted that idea by showing that career breaks are insignificant with regard to the whole professional career. In order not to lose talents –whether they are feminine or not -, employers should adopt a preventive approach and change the corporate culture in order to allow more flexibility regarding working hours but also regarding career and job evolution opportunities.
Taking Scandinavian countries as an example, solutions could be:
- leaving and returning interviews in order to identify the collaborator’s needs and wishes,
- implementing informal exchanges in order to keep contact with the collaborators on maternity or parental leave – Sweden’s Fika Time-,
- giving small missions during their absence if they agree to,
- allowing the evolution towards other missions upon their return or
- implementing mentoring programmes.
It is often the small actions that will allow a change in the corporate mind-set in order to consider career breaks as a natural step in women and men’s careers.
