From Employers Step Up Efforts to Lure Stay-at-Home Mothers Back to Work:
A need for skilled employees, particularly in accounting, consulting and finance, is leading big employers in these fields to get creative. Although their new programs are open to both women and men, they’re drawing more females because skilled women are more likely to leave high-paying jobs in the first place, to raise children and for other reasons. In a study of 13,838 employees, Watson Wyatt, Arlington, Va., found women ages 25 to 40 making over $75,000 a year were nearly 20% more likely to leave their jobs than men. Female turnover was 11.4% a year, compared with 9.6% for men.But research also shows these women seek to return to the work force fairly quickly, as long as they have a workable and appealing setup. A survey of 2,443 women and 653 men, co-authored by Sylvia Ann Hewlett of the Center for Work-Life Policy, found women who take career breaks are only out of the work force for 2.2 years, on average. And only 5% of mothers who return even want to go back to their former employers; instead, they seek flexibility at smaller firms or by starting their own businesses.
Big companies are trying to win these women back by addressing the barriers to re-entry — offering flexible schedules and helping women bring out-of-date skills up to snuff and revive their neglected professional networks. Such efforts are often referred to as ‘on-ramping’ because they create a path back into the workplace.