Help for ladies returning to work after a profession break should not start solely after they begin sending out resumes – it ought to start earlier than they even depart their jobs.
That was one of many key findings from a examine by the Singapore Council of Girls’s Organisations (SCWO) launched on Friday (Sep 18), titled Girls’s Workforce Re-entry: Challenges, Boundaries & Alternatives.
The examine checked out girls’s experiences returning to the workforce after a profession break, together with trying to find a job, re-entering the office and remaining employed.
It’s the first a part of a three-year research-to-action programme by SCWO, which can give attention to home violence in 2027 and caregiver well-being in 2028.
“Returning to work shouldn’t be a single second when a girl begins searching for a job once more – the help really should start earlier than she leaves the workforce and proceed after she returns,” mentioned SCWO’s chief government officer Yan Ping Koh.
“To do that, we’d like a mindset shift and assessment the way in which we have a look at caregiving usually.
“We have to look past merely getting girls again into jobs as to whether appropriate alternatives exist, whether or not workplaces are able to help their return alongside their caregiving duties, and whether or not girls can keep and progress as soon as they return.”
The examine, performed by SCWO in collaboration with NTUC’s Girls and Household unit, drew on 20 in-person focus group discussions with 120 girls in July, a web-based ballot of 502 girls dwelling in Singapore who have been aged 24 and above in August, and a assessment of return-to-work initiatives in Singapore and abroad.
The main target teams included youthful girls returning after maternity depart, mid-career girls who had taken caregiving-related profession breaks, girls aged 50 to 65 who had been out of the workforce for longer durations, and ladies who had unsuccessfully tried to return to employment. Each PMET and non-PMET employees have been represented.
In accordance with Koh, the findings will not be nationally consultant of all girls in Singapore. The analysis as a substitute sought to seize the experiences of ladies at totally different life levels and factors of their return-to-work journey.
THE STRUGGLE TO FIND SUITABLE WORK
Among the many girls polled, 299 had beforehand taken or have been presently on a profession break – 80 per cent of those mentioned they needed to return to work.
On the identical time, almost 70 per cent of all girls polled believed taking a profession break made discovering appropriate employment harder.
Girls within the examine described making ready themselves to return to work by updating their resumes, refreshing their expertise and trying to find jobs by way of a number of channels, however they didn’t at all times discover roles that matched each their expertise and their want for flexibility.