GHD

CAREER RELAUNCH PROGRAM

GHD started its Career Relaunch Initiative to support people who have been out of the workplace for two years or more make an informed decision on how and if they want to return to work.

The program stemmed from conversations with people returning from maternity and paternity leave, understanding what the re-entry process was like and what challenges they faced. For many the experience was stressful, balancing work and family needs and also catching up with the rapid advances in technology and working practices.

GHD wanted to enable people to come back to work in a more managed and supported way, so it started conceptualising a program that allowed a more staggered approach back into the workforce and, crucially, gave people decision making power over how they wanted to work going forwards. The result was the innovative Career Relaunch program, which was first piloted in 2017.

The program

Career Relaunch is a ten week flexible program for people who have been out of work for some time, who have or haven’t previously been employed by GHD. Participants are financially supported while they are on the program, and everyone is offered full or part time employment after they’ve finished if they choose to stay on.

The program is available across the organisation’s teams and functions, successfully re-exposing people very quickly to high profile projects that align with their past experience and qualifications. There is real flexibility in terms of working locations and hours on the scheme, in line with GHD’s normal flexible working arrangements, and the pay package enables people to be supported.

GHD is very clear from the outset that there is the opportunity for anyone on the program to come back in a full or part time capacity, but it’s made equally clear that the decision rests with the employee. Key to the program is allowing the employee to choose their terms of employment, and giving them time to see whether they want to be back in work and whether they enjoy work at GHD.

To support this period of sense-making, participants have a direct manager, coach and buddy, and the HR team keeps very close to all the scheme participants during the process. The scheme also includes a training program covering skills needed to re-enter this type of work – a lot of the tools needed to perform roles in GHD’s sectors change rapidly, even during a short career break.

At the end of the ten weeks the program participants engage with the organisation in discussion about if and how they want to re-enter the organisation on a more permanent basis, and this can include a staggered re-entry, job sharing and part time work, or going straight back into a full time position.

The results

The program started in 2017 with a pilot, offering 20 positions, and is being rolled out again this year for 30 people. Over 200 applications were received in each recruitment round, both from people returning from parental leave and those who’d had extended career breaks.

The initial pilot resulted in a range of outcomes for individuals, including more than anticipated coming straight back as full time employees.

Jan Sipsma, General Manager – People at GHD, summarises the impact: “We have definitely been able to offer opportunities for really high calibre candidates that would not have happened if it was a direct entry back into the workplace.”

90% of the candidates in the initial pilot were also diverse candidates, and the program has had a very positive impact on providing work experiences and opportunities for female candidates in particular.

It is still early days for tracking the progress of the program, but GHD can see the benefits of allowing people returning to work this settlement period and the chance to go through a ‘sense making process’. The scheme was borne from the fundamental belief that making sense of what you’re getting yourself into contributes hugely to your ability to add value to the organisation, and the commitment of those who have stayed on beyond the program is testament to this. And for those who don’t stay on, the chance to make an informed and unpressurised decision is very humanising.

Above all, GHD has learnt that there isn’t a one size fits all approach to returning to work. Empowering the employee to choose how they want to return and having flexibility to design a solution according to what works for the individual is key.