Bringing Back the Women

WSJ online

This article shows some employers humanizing its employees and giving more consideration to their personal lives- in particular, those of women who choose to become mothers.  In 2011, about 76% of mothers with children under 18 were either already in the workforce or looking to enter the workforce.  Employers that are not willing to work with mothers are losing out on a lot of available talent that is willing and able to work and enhance the company. 

Consulting firm, McKinsey & Co. is reaching out to female employees no longer employed by the firm, to touch base and see how they feel about coming back to work.  This is not company policy, but rather something that the firm is doing quietly, presumably to regain some of its lost talent. 

The idea of bringing individuals who have not been employed for some time back to the firm seems to be catching on… Goldman Sachs has implemented “returnships”- described as jobs that are paid and short-term offered to individuals who have been out of the workforce for a few years.

Photo from Forbes.com

While a complex situation, hopefully more businesses will create a win-win situation by re-recruiting the lost talent of women workers who exited the workforce due to motherhood.  It is encouraging to see employers taking a more humanistic view of their employees as people and not just workers who generate income for the firm.

The photo on the left comes from a Forbes.com article about keeping women in the workforce that is also a good read.