Thought Leaders
New UBS Program Helps Women Reenter the Work Force

Many women return to the work force after stepping out to address personal needs, such as caring for children or parents. Organizations need this pool of talent. But it is often a challenging transition for both employees and employers. A new Wharton program sponsored by UBS, Career Comeback: A UBS Fellowship Program for Professional Women Reentering the Workforce , will help participants make the leap back into the work force.

Mona Lau"We have a talent shortage in certain business areas," said Mona Lau, Global Head of Diversity for UBS. "We are always looking for good people, but in some regions and jobs, it is particularly hard to find good people. At the same time, we have a huge untapped talent base sitting in women who have left the workforce to raise their families. A good many of them are ready and willing to come back but not exactly sure how. We as an organization feel we have an obligation to help ease the way for those who have the interest."

UBS, which was named as one of the 100 best companies for working mothers, according to Working Mother Magazine, has already developed programs in different parts of the world to support the transition of women back into the work force. "We are looking at flexibility and work-life balance as well as identifying programs to help women transition back to work in many of our businesses around the globe," Lau said.

Monica McGrathThe company's interest coincided with research by Wharton's Monica McGrath on the topic of reentry.  A 2004-2005 study by McGrath and two Wharton alumnae (Marla Driscoll and Mary Gross) found that 43 percent of the women surveyed stayed out longer than they expected, and 87 percent of those who initially never planned to return to work decided to return after all. Many reentered by joining smaller companies and often shifted industries or functional roles. McGrath found that many women face a tough transition.

At a Wharton conference, McGrath discussed the research with Wharton alumna Priya Trauber, who works for UBS, sparking discussions that led to the new pilot program. The program, sponsored by UBS, will be offered free of charge to 50 select participants in March 2007.

Up to Speed

The new program will bring participants up to speed on current trends and approaches to business and address the specific challenges facing women upon reentry.  One of the challenges is updating skills.  "A year is a long time in business, and five years is a totally different world," Lau said. "There are different technologies, regulations, and products."

The program will offer updates from Wharton faculty in diverse business areas—from finance to marketing to technology—to ensure the women, many of whom already have MBAs, are up on current thinking. This will help returning women who often find they are at a disadvantage in interviewing, McGrath said. "They are often treated as if they have lost IQ points," she continued. "The world has changed a lot, and the company might think it will take time for them to get up to speed."

"At UBS, we know these sharp, talented women can successfully re-launch their careers," said Lau. "We're confident that the Wharton faculty will give them the cutting-edge information they need so that they can hit the ground running."

Women also need to know how to explain the gap in their resumes—to make the business case for their contribution to the firm in terms that a recruiter can understand. For example, while home obligations are often seen as a distraction from work, research by Wharton's Nancy Rothbard, who also will teach in the program, showed work life can be enhanced by a positive home life, and vice versa.  Women who have been out of the workforce for a period of time have most likely been honing their multi-tasking skills and will be better managers as a result. It is certainly not a zero-sum game, and women need the knowledge and coaching to be able to make this case to employers.

"From the interviews we have done with women, we think we have a fairly good idea of how we can help them assess where they are in terms of skills, attitudes, networks, and other areas," McGrath said. "A self assessment can offer some clarity about what they are after and how it is going to impact all the domains of their lives."

In addition to providing business knowledge, the program focuses on specific reentry challenges such as work-life balance, strategic thinking, and networking. "Leveraging the women in the room to provide a learning community for one another is an important part of the program," McGrath said.

Early Intervention, Extreme Jobs, and Other Strategies

The program is just one of many experiments and initiatives at UBS to address this challenge. In Switzerland, for example, it launched a "brush-up" program for returning women two years ago. UBS has recently launched a pilot program in London to reach out to female employees as soon as they inform the firm that they are pregnant. The company works with the women and their managers to provide them with information and support, so that the women can take time out to care for family and return to work successfully. Just as college recruiting starts long before graduation, Lau said the process of planning for reentry needs to start before women take maternity leave. 

UBS also strives to create a flexible work environment to allow women and men to better balance work and life. Many of the jobs at UBS are considered "extreme jobs" according to new research by the Center for Work-Life Policy. Working in a global business as well as a fast-paced industry often results in intense workloads and can require new approaches to structuring work. UBS treats each situation individually. In one case, the firm helped a single father manage his bicoastal obligations—taking a job in New York but ensuring that he could be with his family in California on weekends. UBS has structured another banking job like a "fireman's schedule" with intense periods of work followed by time off. Additionally, the firm has expanded telecommuting so that 30,000 employees now have access to files from home or other locations. More than 20 percent of the company's more than 9,000 female employees in Switzerland are working part-time.

"Like others in this industry, we have extreme jobs in every single business and region," Lau said. "We have created a culture that encourages trying different ways of keeping talent while at the same time not lowering standards. It requires courage, balance, and a lot of creativity."

The nature of the global financial services business has made it easier to take new approaches to work. As one of the world's leading financial firms, UBS has offices in 50 countries with more than 75,000 employees. In a global business, the concept of "face time" in the office had already been eroded by extensive travel and work stretched across multiple time zones. Managers already had to give up on focusing on time in the office to look at results. "Being a global business actually helps," Lau said.

There are compelling business reasons for paying more attention to these returning women, she said. "This is a long-term commitment for us. It is not charity work. It may mean managing someone who is a little bit different. But if you are open-minded and patient, it is fundamentally doable. It allows you to tap into top talent with intelligence and passion."

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