Strategies and Solutions for Luring ‘Off-Ramped’ Talent Back Into the Workforce

1. Strategies and Solutions for Luring ‘Off-Ramped’ Talent Back Into the Workforce Norma Jean Mattei, PhD, PE, M.ASCE University of New Orleans

2. Acknowledgements • ASCE CWDCE committee • Survey of ASCE civil engineering members who are personally off ramping or attempting to on ramp • Material taken from: • Leslie Bennetts, author of The Feminine Mistake • Sylvia Hewlett, author of Off Ramps and On Ramps

3. Format of presentation • Background • Statistics • What prompts women and men to off ramp • What women and men seek in a career • How can employers create a work environment sensitive to the needs of both women and men • Six target areas • Example policies • Case studies

4. What do my aerobics instructor, my daughters’ swim coach, their girl scout leader, and my former day care provider have in common?

5. Answer • They are all women

6. Answer • They are all women • They are all my age (mid to late forties)

7. Answer • They are all women • They are all my age (mid to late forties) • Degreed engineers

8. Answer • They are all women • They are all my age (mid to late forties) • Degreed engineers • Quit work once they became young mothers

9. Answer • They are all women • They are all my age (mid to late forties) • Degreed engineers • Quit work once they became young mothers • Do not feel they can reenter the engineering workforce

10. Answer • They are all women • They are all my age (mid to late forties) • Degreed engineers • Quit work once they became young mothers • Do not feel they can reenter the engineering workforce NOTE: women shoulder 73% of childcare and 85% of eldercare responsibilities

11. Statistics …most information from a 2004 national survey of 3096 highly qualified women and men by the Center of Work-Life Policy

12. Why do employees leave? Of those surveyed, 37% of the women off ramped (average period of 2.2 years) and 24% of the men off ramped

13. Why do employees leave? NOTE: multiple responses allowed

14. Why do employees leave? NOTE: multiple responses allowed

15. Why do employees leave? NOTE: multiple responses allowed

16. Off ramped women • 93% want to return to their careers • 74% do return to the workforce • 40% full time • 24% part-time • 9% become self-employed. • Financial penalty • Loss of 18% (average) of their earning power • % increases with increasing years off-ramped • Only 5% of off-ramped women want to return to their previous employer

17. Should employers be concerned? • According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 90% of employers say competition for college hires has increased • Baby boomers retiring • Work-age population shrinking in numbers • Less foreign nationals • Increasingly leave for jobs back home • Visas are harder to get

18. How do employers "recapture" this lost pool of talent?

19. Why women on ramp NOTE: multiple responses allowed

20. What women want in a career NOTE: multiple responses allowed

21. The “carrots” of employment • Women want • Collegiality • Collaboration • Give back to society • Men want • Money • Status • Power

22. Hidden Brain Drain Task Force • Established in 2004 • 34 progressive global companies • Objective: identify problems and sponsor cutting edge research that allow companies to better retain women • Central challenge: to spearhead a second generation of policy capable of keeping talented women • Focus sectors • legal, professional services, Fortune 500, and science, engineering and technology companies

23. Six core elements identified • Establish flexible work arrangements • Create career arc flexibility • Reimagine work life • Help women sustain ambition • Harness altruism • Reduce stigma and stereotypes

24. Establish flexible work arrangements

25. Establish flexible work arrangements “I am currently a work-at-home mother…I have been very lucky to be able to continue work for two different employers while working from home. It has been beneficial to both of us since they are need of employees and I am able to schedule my hours as I need…”

26. Establish flexible work arrangements • Ernst and Young (accounting, audit, tax) • Allows compressed workweeks, flextime, reduced-hours, short-term seasonal arrangements, job sharing, and telecommuting • Customized arrangements negotiated individually between manager and employee • 2/3 of those using flexible work arrangements view them as a reason for staying or joining the firm • 10% female principals and partners work flexibly • 30% second-tier women work flexibly • Women’s retention rates now mirror that of men at all levels • Savings of $10 million annually in replacing employees

27. Establish flexible work arrangements • BT, formerly British Telecommunications • Flexibility program Freedom to Work • Helped craft the U.K.’s Employment Act of 2002 • 3/4 of BT employees now work flexibly (most of them men) • Employee turnover drop to 3% • 99% of BT moms return to work after maternity leave (U.K. average is 47%) • BT saves £70 million per year in reduced office space

28. Create career arc flexibility

29. Create career arc flexibility “…a few months [after my son was born] my husband and I started talking about me going back to work. I knew I didn’t need to go back right away, but I knew if I stayed out too long people would not be interested in me when I tried to go back. So I updated my resume and started looking for a part-time position. I had 2 hits on my resume from local companies…within a span of four months. The first company had never had a part-time engineer but thought they might be open to the idea. The second company had utilized part-time engineers pursuing advanced degrees in the past and was very open to the idea of hiring a part-time engineer…”

30. Create career arc flexibility • 60% of highly qualified women have nonlinear career paths • Some off-ramp temporarily • Some take the “scenic route” (work part-time, avoid or delay promotions, telecommute, etc.) • Different from the traditionally successful (male) career model • Continuous, linear career arc • Full-time many-weekly-hours employment

31. Create career arc flexibility • Booz Allen Hamilton (global technology consultants) • Continuity of the client-consultant relationship all important • Adjunct program • Provides individuals who need to ramp down with part-time high impact work as free lancers • Adjunct workers can easily expand or contract capacity at the firm • Adjunct workers receive a fee but no benefits • Considering adding a package of benefits, including partial health coverage to the program.

32. Reimagine work life

33. Reimagine work life “When Hurricane Katrina hit the area in which I live, it impacted my life immensely. Although my home did not suffer damage, my parent’s home needed to be completely gutted and rebuilt. They are in their mid-seventies, and I was very concerned that seeing their home in such a state of disaster would impact their health or break their hearts. So for six weeks I put in twelve hour days, intent on getting their devastated house to look instead like a clean construction site. As my office was also impacted and temporarily shut down, I automatically had some time away from my full time engineering position. This was a wake up call: what am I going to do if my aging parents need constant care and supervision in the future? How am I going to handle that, as well as my kids and job?”

34. Reimagine work life • Most benefits target married parents with children • BUT • 1/2 professional women are childless • Almost 1/3 not currently married • Everyone has parents, who eventually may need care (duties usually fall on the woman’s shoulders) • Many minorities take on needy young and old people who are not biologically part of their immediate family

35. Reimagine work life • Citigroup (financial services) • Elder Care Management Services that enables employees, their siblings and elderly relatives to consult with trained professionals about eldercare options for up to six free hours • Time Warner (media and entertainment) • broadened its Employee Assistance Program to include “reliant” individuals that include any person that a family supports • Reliant individuals can apply for company scholarships • Johnson and Johnson (health care and services) • allows employee’s grandchildren to attend their highly rated day-care facilities

36. Help women sustain ambition

37. Help women sustain ambition “After a decade as a consulting engineer, I was ready to move up the ladder as an associate. However this coincided with my want to start a family. Because I wanted more flexibility than I thought the promotion would afford me, I left for a position in academia. Although teaching and research does offer more flexibility, the hours are grueling, the engineering education community is even less diverse than industry, and the stress of being an untenured professor and mother of two small children nearly did me in. Now tenured and diaper-bag free, I relish my personal and professional life but wonder if it had to be so arduous and convoluted.”

38. Help women sustain ambition • Taking time off or working part time • Impact an individual’s work prospects • Hard to recover from • Many eventually downsize their dreams and aspirations • There also still exists the glass ceiling • Overt discrimination • Lack of role models and networks. • Possible solutions: employer-sponsored women’s network and leadership training programs

39. Help women sustain ambition • General Electric (industrial products) • Women’s Network • Main initiative is recruiting talented women into technology and engineering • Greatest benefits: using the annual review process to pinpoint and promote leaders • Network leaders are identified through the annual review • This leadership position will give high-potential women the experience required to rise in their careers • Despite its reputation as a bastion of white males, GE won the prestigious Catalyst Award in 2004 for its efforts to advance women

40. Harness altruism

41. Harness altruism “…I am interested in the done by Engineers Without Borders or Engineers for a Sustainable Future, but it is hard to volunteer time [as a stay-at-home mom] because I would have to pay for child care…”

42. Harness altruism • It’s not just about the money • Many women want to give back to society • Create true, real outlets for altruism • Can better retain talented females • Must be grounded in the company’s core belief system • If public service is embedded in a company’s culture • Employees can safely have volunteer commitments • As opposed to hiding them for of negative impact

43. Harness altruism • Goldman Sachs (financial services) • Public service as both a leadership development tool and a key way to retain top talent • Cisco (food services) • Leadership Fellows Program: • allows employee “fellows” to work with a nonprofit for a year • return reenergized and with new skills • American Express • Ten year employees • Can apply for a six month paid sabbatical (complete with paid benefits) • So that they can work for the nonprofit of their choice

44. Reduce stigma and stereotypes

45. Reduce stigma and stereotypes “Raising children is an extremely difficult job, demanding exceptional hours and commitment. I am all for extending…every accommodation to re-enter [the engineering workforce] after this vital task is accomplished.”

46. Reduce stigma and stereotypes • Stigma often leads to marginalization • Nonstandard work arrangements • Unspoken yet negative perception • Ultimately an ambitious woman will choose NOT to use • Instead opting to leave the firm for a position with reduced responsibilities …if you want to be on the A team, you have to play by A team rules...

47. Reduce stigma and stereotypes • Lehman Brothers (financial services) • After 9/11 and potential bird flu epidemic looming • Telecommuting went mainstream • Major catastrophe prevented employees from getting to the office • Company-provided technology for working from home • Unintended consequence of the disaster planning • Concept that flexible schedules were now legitimate • Flexibly working thus gender-neutral

48. What can your firm do? • Labor market is at the beginning of a baby bust • Women are graduating with more than fifty percent of college degrees worldwide • % white males in the workforce is shrinking • Traditionally providing most engineering graduates • The programs and policies outlined in this presentation can be modified and used by any size business who values its female employees