2022 Shortlist: Most Successful Returners’ Programme Award

We are delighted to share more details of each of the shortlisted nominees, with a reminder of the category overview.

CAPCO

The firm’s Return to Work programme is an important global initiative for Capco and a key component of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) strategy to ensure diverse talent is employed across the organisation and that its vision of an inclusive working environment is realised. The team is passionate about offering an opportunity for experienced hires, who have been out of the workforce for over two years and seeks to understand the many reasons for an extended career break, including the need to provide caregiving for children or aging family members, mental health, an illness, or a disability.

Capco’s programme offers support throughout to help participants become acclimatised to a regular work schedule, with the knowledge that this can be an overwhelming transition and as it seeks to ensure that its returners receive the support they need to be successful in their new career journey.

This is enabled by providing:

• A four-week settling-in period, with a formal induction programme

• A curated learning curriculum

• Support through in-house mentorship and coaching

• An external Return to Work specialised coach to provide advice on returning to the workforce

• Access to a supportive Return to Work community

• Quarterly meet-ups for each programme intake

CITI

To meet its goal to create a returner programme that stood apart from its competitors, the team at Citi started by listening to the experiences of returning colleagues and participants of other programmes, taking time to empathise and understand the challenges they faced trying to restart their career after a break.

This led to a programme that is believed to be “thoughtfully designed” to address those challenges. Instead of a 12-week “taster”, therefore, it created an 18-month programme. Instead of unpaid or intern roles, it offered substantive jobs with competitive compensation and benefits. The team also understood that returners wanted new roles and skills, so 20% of each returner’s week is spent studying for a professional qualification. In addition, the programme values diverse backgrounds and experiences, with no expectation that candidates have previously worked in the financial services industry.

Citi’s returners are supported by a dedicated programme and HR team, have buddies and mentors assigned, and everyone starts on the same day to create a cohort who can support each other and share their experiences.

The London programme has seen 35 participants over its first three years, with the first cohort finishing in September 2021, with all 11 graduating participants joining permanently. The success in London has since inspired a global expansion into a total of 14 international locations.

LLOYDS BANKING GROUP

As a leading UK financial service provider, with over 65,000 colleagues, the team at Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) understand the importance of supporting career-break returners and valuing the diversity and breadth of experience these individuals brought to the organisation. Its award-winning Returners Programme has now been running for seven years and placed over 120 professionals in leadership roles. In 2021, over 60% of returners were from a Black, Asian or ethnic minority background and 97% were female.

This year, taking forward learnings and feedback, LBG is expanding its returners programme activity from once a year to quarterly, allowing the team to help more returners back into work. LBG has also sought to improve the experience for returners, offering a permanent contract from day one, and reduced its career break criteria from two years to 18 months on the back of its understanding of the effect the pandemic may have had.

Returners are supported through a 16-week induction programme, which includes weekly support catchups, group sessions, guest speakers and relevant learning opportunities to support them settling in and growing their knowledge. Every returner benefits from the organisation’s agile and flexible working policies to help them in the transition back to work and supporting them as they seek to balance a career with their other commitments.