Returning to work after a long family phase is not always easy. Especially women of the generation 40 plus can tell you a thing or two about it. Often the content and working methods have changed massively during the time of bringing up the child. But with the right training model, female returnees are quickly up to date again – and stay that way.
Generation 40 plus: Long-term time off is part of everyday life
Women who are now between 40 and 50 years old are now feeling the consequences of taking long career breaks to care for their own children. In 2010, a report by the Swiss Federal Coordination Commission for Family Affairs (EKFF) criticised the lack of childcare options for both parents at the time.
Even today, around 20 percent of children of pre-school and school age cannot be cared for to the desired extent. So most mothers work part-time at best. This is often the only way to reconcile work and family life.
Lack of childcare after returning to work and its consequences
Within the 40 Plus generation, even a part-time job was out of reach for most women. And so many mothers in Switzerland up to around the year 1977 stayed at home for many years after giving birth without gainful employment. In doing so, they were not only foregoing career options that presented themselves. Further education also inevitably lay fallow. The job had become a distant memory, other priorities now counted in everyday life.
The return to work had to wait until the children had reached a certain level of independence and usually took place when the offspring started school. In plain language, we are talking about time off of at least six years or more – depending on whether offspring number one had a sibling in the meantime or not.
Reality shock when returning to work is great
The youngest representatives from this generation are now likely to return to work. We are talking about those just over 40. The reality shock that must have set in after the years of time away must have been immense: After all, the clocks in the working world had not stood still during the half or full decade of absence.
Nevertheless, many women returning to work have the determination to prove it to everyone in the professional world once again. But to do so, they need the right technical know-how. And the faster they build it up, the better. But how can that be done? The offspring may be looked after at school in the mornings, but they demand attention in the afternoons at the latest, when the working mums are also back from work.
Time-intensive further training outside the home is often not feasible
Admittedly, the boys or girls are now at an age where they do a lot of things on their own. But then again, they would not be so independent that time-intensive further training would be feasible when returning to work outside the home. A dilemma? Not with the right continuing education format. Keyword: learning via a digital platform. The whole thing works via PC, tablet and mobile phone.
The principle: learners can take time for continuing education – according to their professional and private schedules, their private commitments and their personal learning pace – whenever it suits them best. In this way, even ambitious further training courses with a high workload can be integrated into one’s own everyday life. Even the recognized SVF certificates in leadership or management, for example.
Immediately after returning to work: support from training staff
At the same time, women re-entering the profession do not have to worry about learning dully and alone. The corresponding portals open the connection to training persons who supervise the trainee and answer open questions at any time. This can be done within a study group or one-to-one in a chat.
A wide variety of media are available as teaching aids, so that the learner can draw on what suits his or her own learning style. Some people learn better through visual stimuli and go straight to the instructional video. Others absorb content better auditorily. For them, the podcasts integrated into the learning platform are the perfect format. Still others find the PowerPoint presentations with commentary exciting and, and, and.
Conclusion: Especially working mothers who want to regain a firm foothold in their careers will benefit from a well thought-out training program that can be perfectly integrated into their own work-life balance. In this way, women returning to work can ensure that they are always up to date and informed about the latest developments. There is no better investment in your own employability. Especially in times when the conditions on the job market change almost by the second, it is good to have everything under your own control.
