Dormant Workforce: Empowering Women’s Return to Work

Dormant Workforce: Empowering Women’s Return to Work 

Amelia Miller, co-founder of ivee.jobs, discusses how their platform tackles the gender pay gap by empowering women returning to work. 

Cally, a chartered accountant who had risen to Director before taking a career break to start a family, found herself eager to return to work after four years. However, she encountered a significant hurdle: her demands had shifted, and she felt her skills were outdated, which dealt a blow to her confidence. Despite two years of job-hunting, she ultimately accepted a position with a 60% salary reduction—not as an accountant, but as a receptionist.

This transition not only resulted in a sharp decrease in earnings but also brought her professional growth to a standstill, exacerbating the financial and emotional toll.

Observing their mother’s challenging experience, Lydia and Amelia Miller, sisters from London, were motivated to instigate change. They were appalled to discover that, even in 2024, women still encountered profound bias when attempting to re-enter the workforce.

Determined to address this issue, they embarked on creating ivee, an innovative AI-powered platform aimed at empowering women to seamlessly re-enter the workforce without enduring salary cuts.

After watching this experience, Cally’s daughters, Lydia and Amelia Miller, were inspired to change this. Sisters from London, they were shocked that, in 2024, women are still facing extreme bias on their return-to-work journey.

They set out to build ivee, a game-changing, AI-powered platform designed to empower women to effortlessly re-enter the workforce- without the pay-cut.

So… How big is the problem? 

Each year over 150 million women leave the workforce, and three quarters of them will struggle to re-enter. Last years Nobel prize winning research from Claudia Goldin showed that career breaks are the crux of the gender pay gap – this “broken rung” stunts women’s lifetime earnings… 

A 2 year career break leads to an average salary decrease of 32%. 

This rises to 45% after a 4 year career break. 

Currently, there’s no scalable tech solution to help these chronically underserved women return to work. 

So, why is re-entry so daunting for women? Three glaring obstacles emerge:

1. Firstly, a career break exists as a blank space on returners’ CVs, regardless of the experiences and soft skills gained. Candidates are unable to demonstrate these relevant skills, and recruiters deem this as a loss of industry relevance.
2. This lack of recognition knocks their confidence, deterring ambitious job applications. Returners internalise this belief of skill erosion and not being up-to-date with industry or tech changes. This in turn leads them to accept massive salary cuts or occupational downgrades. 
3. The final pain point is community – at the moment, there is nowhere for returners to openly discuss their unique challenges and experiences. This lack of role-models and success stories of women returning to work perpetuates a stigma of bias and discrimination.

The cracks are clear. We must rebuild the ladder, rung by transformative rung. Investing in the recruitment of women who have temporarily stepped away from their careers and are eager to re-enter the workforce is a no-brainer. Given that 50% of these returners are not actively using LinkedIn, explore alternative platforms like ivee to connect with this valuable pool of candidates.

ivee’s Solution:

ivee addresses three critical pain points for returning women:

1. Unrecognized Skills: Career breaks are often seen as gaps, disregarding valuable experiences and skills gained.
2. Outdated Knowledge: Fears of being out-of-touch deter applications and erode confidence.
3. Lack of Community: Isolation and a dearth of role models perpetuate the perception of returning as daunting.

ivee bridges the gap with a multi-faceted platform:

• Skills-Matching Marketplace: Leverages behavioral economics to encourage relevant applications, highlighting flexible work options and non-negotiables to attract this unique talent pool.
• Gen-AI Upskilling: Provides personalized content and micro-learning opportunities to update industry knowledge and build confidence.
• Vibrant Community: Fosters connections, peer-to-peer mentoring, and showcases success stories, empowering women to network and share experiences.

Businesses also benefit:

• Diverse Talent Pool: Access qualified, experienced professionals seeking flexible work options.
• Seamless Integration: Integrate with existing ATS systems for smooth hiring.
• Subscription Models: cater to different company sizes and needs.

“Witnessing firsthand the immense challenges women face, we realised this isn’t just a personal story. Across the globe, hundreds of millions of women struggle to re-launch their careers, often experiencing significant financial and emotional setbacks. We knew technology could be the key to unlocking their potential, and ivee was born”.

Visit ivee’s website or contact them to learn more about how you can be a part of this transformative journey. Together, let’s close the gender pay gap and build a more inclusive and equitable future.