Vodafone to launch world’s largest programme to recruit women

Vodafone is to launch the world’s largest programme to help women who have taken a career break to get back into work.

The programme follows research that has highlighted the problems that women face when re-entering the workplace, such as restricted opportunities for pay rises and promotions.

Flexible

Vodafone is now aiming to address the problem with the launch of the new programme, which will see the telecommunications company recruiting 1,000 women who have taken a break from work for several years, mainly to focus on raising their family.

The company will be focusing in particular on women that are looking to re-enter the workplace on a flexible or part-time basis but are struggling with making professional connections or refreshing the skills that are required to enable them to do so.

Vodafone is also aiming to increase the number of women in higher roles such as management and leadership, with up to 500 women who are currently taking a career break being set to be hired into a management role over the next three years.

Boost

The launch of Vodafone’s programme comes after research that the company commissioned from professional services firm KPMG found that there are 96 million women aged between 30 and 54 who are currently on a career break that are skilled, with 55 million being estimated to have middle management experience or higher.

According to the research, bringing skilled women back into the workplace could help to boost the economy by around £151 billion each year and could also help to bring a £419 billion financial boost to women’s households each year.