Canadian HR Reporter

CanaDian hr reporter october 6, 2014 2 NEwS Recent stories posted on www.hrreporter.com. Check the website daily for quick news hits from across Canada and around the world. WEB O N T H E ACROSS CANADA Pension protest draws large crowd in Montreal Legislation calls for 50-50 split between municipalities, workers B.C. teachers ratify 6-year contract Deal includes 7.25 per cent salary increase AROuND THE wORLD U.S. to help train people to spot potential violent extremists to include teachers, mental health and social services professionals Mitigating leadership risk ruth Brothers, managing director of rhB associates, explains hr's role in understanding leadership risk hrreporter.com FeATURed VIdeo Back to Bay street Awards help senior women return to wo rk after extended leaves By Sarah DoBSon haVinG Been out of the work- force for fi ve years — when she had three children — Rakhi Te- jani was not sure how to go about returning to her career. Previ- ously in banking and fi nance for 13 years, she'd tried to re-enter the workforce for about six months but the opportunities were not suitable for her skills or interests, or simply were the wrong path. en she heard about Women in Capital Markets (WCM) — an organization dedicated to the ad- vancement of women in business and increasing the number of women in senior leadership roles — and attended its Back to Bay Street conference. "One of my biggest takeaways from this conference was looking around the room and realizing that there are many women who were in the exact same situation where I was," she said. Inspired, Tejani went on to ap- ply for — and was given — the Re- turn to Bay Street award through WCM. Launched in 2010 by WCM and BMO, the awards are given to professional women who have taken a break from their ca- reers in the capital markets indus- try and are ready to restart their careers. ey each receive $5,000 toward an education program, a four-month paid internship at ei- ther BMO, National Bank of Can- ada, RBC or Scotiabank, along with a mentorship and one-year membership with WCM. It's the ideal platform for suc- cess, said Tejani, now senior manager of operational risk at Na- tional Bank of Canada in Toronto. "I (was) given to the opportu- nity to intern at a top-tier bank, which has subsequently led to a full-time permanent role. This award also opened doors to a net- work of highly successful individ- uals, including being appointed a senior-level mentor to help guide my career. I have been fortunate that returning to Bay Street has been a great experience for me." It's not only about attracting women to the financial indus- try but also retaining them and moving them into senior leader- ship roles, said Jennifer Reynolds, president and CEO of WCM in Toronto. And the awards target senior women who have signifi - cant experience, bringing them back into senior roles so they're not starting at the bottom of the ladder again. "Really, it is a launchpad for these women… it's diffi cult when you've been out to fi nd opportuni- ties, to get chances, to get some- one to take a chance on you and let you get back in, so this provides that vehicle," she said. "Women with children are working, they do need to come back and I don't want to see them marginalized and always relegated to middle management positions because they took that break." So far, six women have done WCM's awards and there were six winners this year. But the program could apply in any industry, said Reynolds — there are not enough women in senior leadership roles and part of that is because they decided to take time off . "Everybody's experience is still there, it's just a matter of really getting back into the envi- ronment and quickly getting back up to speed," she said. Susan Cowan was introduced to the program through an ac- quaintance and was a Back to Bay Street award winner in 2014. Now a director in the fi nancial and debt products group at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto, she previ- ously had a successful 18-year career before taking an extended leave of 12 years. "Even with that extended leave, the skill sets and the experience that we acquired during our ca- reers are still very relevant and very in demand," she said. Cowan initially considered part-time work before taking time off , but that wasn't an option. "It's a very performance-driven business, it's very relationship- driven, it's very transaction-ori- ented, so you've got to be fully present and all in," she said. But to relaunch your career, the WCM program makes sense. "It's a fantastic platform for women like myself who have taken this extended leave and who have played senior roles previously, to come back into comparable roles in each organization," said Cowan. " at's the beauty of it — they re- ally are not trying to bring you in and start all over." Society need to start thinking about careers differently, said Reynolds. "Society does look at these women and go, 'Well, they can't come back and they certainly can't come back to senior roles, can they?' So really this is turning things upside down a bit and say- ing, 'Yeah, they can,'" she said. "Companies need to start hav- ing a better dialogue with women about career paths and what hap- pens when you have a family, and what does that look like when you come back or what could it look like... fi nancial institutions and otherwise need to start having those conversations and creating diff erent alternatives for people." Just Announced! Daniel H. Pink Bestselling Author of Drive 2014 CSTD CONFERENCE & TRADE SHOW Toronto, ON | November 12-14 CSTD.ca/Conference Connect. Collaborate. Transform. Register today and use code HRREPORTER for $100 discount CONNECT with workplace learning professionals COLLABORATE across platforms, sectors, and industries to extend the influence of workforce learning TRANSFORM your learning and development programs to meet business needs C M Y CM MY CY CMY K Hrreporter-oct2014.pdf 2 9/10/2014 12:34:24 PM

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