Since the early 2000s, “returnships,” a term trademarked by Goldman Sachs in 2008, have been part of the solution to the puzzling challenge of how to get women back into the workforce after career breaks – usually to care for kids or aging family members. But now, the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing women to leave the workforce at dramatic levels.

Lean In and McKinsey & Co.’s 2020 Women in the Workplace report found that one in four women are considering downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce because of COVID. In September alone, 865,000 of the more than 1.1 million people who left the workforce were women, according to an analysis of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ October jobs report.

Bringing women back to the table will require a broad approach, said Elaine Zundl, research director at the Rutgers Center for Women & Work. That includes revising workplace policies that don’t allow for flexibility and removing hiring practices that make it difficult for them to return.

But, during this female-led recession, returnships could be part of the solution, proponents say. “It’s even more critical that companies and our society really figure out how to create on-ramps for this great talent,” said Addie Swartz, CEO of reacHIRE.

As the economy roils, career opportunities for women look especially bleak. Industries with high numbers of female employees, including retail, food service and hospitality, have been hit hard during the pandemic and are laying off employees in droves, Zundl said.

Meanwhile, other working women are opting out of the labor force as daycares close and schools go virtual. The business of taking care of the kids and home typically falls to women. Research from the Pandemic Parenting Study – a mixed methods survey of women in Southern Indiana – shows that employed mothers working remotely have seen the greatest increase in the time spent caring for children during the pandemic. When women leave the workforce, they lose out on income, future earnings and retirement savings.

Read the full article about returnships by Sarah Lindenfeld Hall at Mashable.