MUMBAI: A person's career is no longer halted at the end of a long break. HR professional Shilpi Singh was able to rekindle her career goals despite taking a 10-year break. Shilpi joined Airtel six months ago through the company's "Step-In" return-to-work program.
Women who may have left their careers for a variety of reasons, such as having children, now have a window of opportunity through second-career programs offered by a number of businesses. However, the majority of businesses do not encourage candidates with a break of more than a few years. Because it is believed that people's skills will become out of date, there is typically a limit on the number of breaks taken. Step-In by Airtel, on the other hand, is not like that.
Shilpi is now a member of the HR team at Airtel's Bengaluru office, where she is responsible for driving talent acquisition across HR and other verticals. She pursued her interests and became a certified instructor for Zumba and Yoga, among other accomplishments. Airtel stated that Shilpi's diverse experience provides the company with a refreshing perspective and that her ability to easily connect with candidates is essential to her role.
Amrita Padda, Airtel's chief people officer, stated, "Breaks enrich us in many ways." Despite the fact that individuals have taken a break from a full-time corporate career, they still gain experience during this phase by working in a meaningful field. Even if you aren't working, that doesn't mean you aren't active. In point of fact, the manner in which Shilpi has rejoined the team, the insights she provides, and the conversations she is having both internally and externally are truly impressive.
Padda stated that Airtel has a clear objective. We want to remain true to our vision of creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. Women who have taken a career break for a variety of reasons but have the necessary experience and skills to return to work are the focus of the Step-In program.
At Larsen & Toubro (L&T), the "Renew" program only takes into account a woman's qualifications, not how long she has been out of the workforce. C Jayakumar, executive vice president and head of corporate HR, stated, "We recently hired a woman employee who was on a career break that was approximately 10 years." She was hired because she has an MBA degree and is a good fit for the position. All we do is make sure that candidates returning to work after a long absence are informed that they will be hired based on their prior experience and current aptitude for the position. Renew has received applications from approximately 2,000 candidates over the past year.
A gender-neutral second-career program called Phoenix, which was recently launched by Marico, also does not limit a candidate's time off. Amit Prakash, chief executive officer of Marico, stated, "We believe grey cells matter more than grey hair." We are always open to hiring people who want to have an impact and make a difference. Professionals who have been off the job for at least one year now have the chance to re-enter the workforce on a project or through lateral hiring. Individuality is valued and candidates who may have taken longer breaks are welcomed by the program. The goal is to create a more diverse workplace fueled by Marico's innovative and entrepreneurial spirit, not limit ourselves to a certain number of years off. As a result, the candidate's qualifications, capabilities, and expertise will be more important than their years of absence.
Given the paradigm shift in employee expectations, Marico decided to make Phoenix a gender-neutral program as second-career policies are further refined to make them more progressive.