Reintegrating Women to a Post-Pandemic Workforce

We’ve all suffered some kind of loss since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some people lost their jobs, while others lost loved ones, and still others missed out on countless opportunities, like travel, concerts, and sports events.

When it comes to the workforce, however, some individuals suffered more than others. Because women are overrepresented in fields like education, healthcare, and food service, they risked increased virus exposure and job loss. Women of color, in particular, bore the brunt. 

Women also took on more involved roles at home over the past year due to the closures of schools and childcare facilities. As if that weren’t enough, the labor force wasn’t too eager to thank them for their tireless service. The Center for American Progress even reports, “As the year closed out, the nation’s employment numbers for December revealed that the nonfarm payroll job losses for the month were entirely borne by women.”

This pattern isn’t a new one. Women have been struggling for years to balance caregiving at home with workplace responsibilities. The pandemic simply highlighted wage inequality and job insecurity among women. 

With hiring efforts back in full swing, we can work to achieve fairness in the workplace. Here, we’ll explore how to get women back in the workforce and how to adjust job offers to better suit the working mother.

Re-Incentivizing Women to Join the Workforce: Career Shifts

In certain fields, women are more underrepresented than others. Many of these fields, like finance and technology, present entry barriers to women. They’re also some of the fields with the highest net earnings.

If you’re looking to rejoin the workforce, you may be considering a career shift to take advantage of higher pay, greater benefits, and increased job flexibility. Roles traditionally filled by women,  like nurses and teachers, can have notoriously low pay and limited flexibility, which may pose challenges, especially for the working mother.

In the sciences and technology, there is plenty of room for women to break through and make their own contributions. Only 29% of workers in the tech industry are women. While this may seem discouraging, it also means there is much room for growth in this field. Women are highly valuable to the tech industry, making tech a career trajectory worth exploring. Diversity is incredibly important when it comes to product development and decision-making, not to mention the fact that companies with women in leadership average greater financial returns. 

Providing Access to Career Resources

Many women are still occupied with childcare or household duties, and having missed a year of work in some cases, are a bit rusty on their interviewing skills. If you’re ready to rejoin the workforce but don’t know where to start, perhaps it’s time to get your hands on some career resources.

In addition to brushing up on your relevant skills, polish your resume by improving your achievement descriptions. Providing descriptions of concrete actions and results in your resume can catch the eye of a prospective employer.

It’s also important to recognize that much of the workforce is still operating remotely, and companies are eager to conduct remote interviews, both for safety and logistical reasons. Many have switched to asynchronous online interview tools that allow you to record the interview at your own pace, which is convenient for both candidates and employers.

If it’s your first online interview, take it casually and treat it no differently than you would an in-person interview. Top video interview tips include:

• Practice answering sample questions by yourself beforehand.
• Try to create a formal environment for the interview (e.g. no kids or pets running around in the background).
• Dress nicely, but keep it simple for the video camera.
• Ensure there are no system or Internet problems before beginning.

Online interviews may seem intimidating at first, but they’re just a different way of connecting with the hiring team. The questions you can expect from an online interview are similar to those you’d expect from an in-person interview. They range from softballs like, “Tell me about your previous experience” to more difficult inquiries such as, “How do you implement work-life balance in your life?”

Building a Healthy Environment: Traits to Look For in a Job

Much of the action needed to revolutionize the workforce should come from the sweeping governmental policies, which could establish universal childcare, ensure equal pay across the board, and raise the federal minimum wage.

In the meantime, companies can structure their policies to be more accommodating to female employees. They can do so by ensuring they have a diverse pool of candidates, removing resume gap biases, and potentially offering a return-to-work program to ease women back into the workplace.

Apart from the hiring process, retention is another key aspect of reintegrating women into the workforce. Women need adequate leave time to deal with caregiving for children or elders, fair pay to help them cover expenses like rent and food, and protection against discrimination, especially if they are LGBT+ or members of a minority group. A flexible work environment that offers professional development opportunities and generous benefits is essential to rebuilding the workforce.