Career Comeback Program For Women, LGBTQ+, PWD And Veterans At UBS BSC

Focussing on DE&I and having begun the hiring drive from 16th November 2022, UBS BSC is focussing on f Career Comeback Program for Women, LGBTQ+, PWD and Veterans. Through this drive, UBS will be able to create an equally diverse employee base, variety of cultural and ethnic background and employee wellbeing, believes Jyothi Menon, Head India Human Resources and Head HR Service Delivery at UBS BSC

What are the key focus areas of the UBS hiring drive? 

We celebrated November as diversity month and conducted a wide variety of sessions that helped to build awareness, celebrate differences, and encourage hiring managers to consider a wider spectrum of candidates while recruiting. In addition, in line with our commitment to increase diversity in the organization we hosted a hiring drive with a focus on hiring more women, career returners, armed forces veterans, disabled, and candidates from the LGBTQ+ community

With a global goal of having at least 30% women in senior roles, multiple programs have been designed in India to achieve this goal such as Learning and Development programs, mentorship opportunities, and women networks. 

We also offer a Career Comeback Program, which is designed for professionals taking a career break due to various reasons and now wish to return to corporate life. A veteran associate program is also offered for armed forces personnel who want to transition from the armed forces to corporates. In addition, at UBS, we have taken holistic steps to create a workplace that is inclusive and celebrates diversity. In India, we’re part of the UBS global Pride agenda and have followed through on our commitments through affirmative action.

What makes the UBS Hiring drive a different initiative than any other hiring drives?

At UBS, we believe that inclusion begins at home, so we have been running continuous sensitisation and awareness sessions for hiring managers and employees to ensure a welcoming environment for anyone who joins UBS. We also conduct awareness sessions for our line managers to manage unconscious bias, being a mentor to employees from diverse backgrounds, and enabling long and successful careers at UBS.

• As part of the diversity month there were similar knowledge-sharing sessions conducted just before the hiring drive 
• A special 3 day referral was conducted with employees seeking referrals for career returns, armed forces veterans, disabled or women, disabled, and LGBTQ+ professionals in their networks

At UBS, we have created an inclusive culture right from building gender-neutral policies to supporting different sexual orientation. We have a ‘Women in India Network. There is also a male ally network that supports the whole gender equity agenda, we have pride champions, who promote acceptance and creation of an environment that is very accepting. In addition, we have programs especially designed for emerging women leaders which help women have longer careers.

What initiatives can help the employees of different sexual orientation feel more inclusive in today’s recruitment setup? 

Inclusion is effective when it’s implemented across the lifecycle of an employee. So the first touchpoint – recruitment process itself is critical. We have taken some key measures

• We’re proudly an equal opportunity & equal pay employer and we make this public - we have signed up for the UBS Pride Charter in 2018, so we follow all of those norms and we have an employee resource group, which looks at different initiatives across all the diversity hiring that we do 
• We conduct hiring manager sensitization on inherent biases to make sure that employees are aware and understand the concept of reverse mentoring sessions that happen for Gen Z or millennials, mentoring their seniors who could be Gen X about the concept of having a spectrum of sexual preferences and orientation
• Diverse hiring panels are setup to combat unconscious bias 
• All our job descriptions are gender neutral 
• We partner with organizations that support specific diversity groups to directly connect and engage with candidates

What role does Veteran associate training programs play in shaping the work life of an employee from a different management skillset?

Veterans bring with them a wide range of skillsets that are transferable to corporate roles. Be it leadership, remaining calm under critical situations, strong collaboration, among many others. Thus, when these officers come into the corporate world, there is no further training required on these aspects. 

Our program typically focuses on two parts: induction/familiarization and technical/functional training. 

1. Induction/Familiarisation is for the veterans to settle into the corporate culture, ways of working, and a general transition support. Alumni veterans also play the role of mentors for newly hired veterans to make the journey easier. 
2. Technical/Functional training covers the role specific aspects whether its technology, governance, basics of banking and finance, that help the veterans do their job effectively 

With a broad foundational program, bridging the gap between the career in the forces and a life in the civic industry is relatively easy.

What is the ideology behind the career comeback program?

We view a career shift or break as a source of transferrable talents and various experiences that can help re-enter the corporate world more prepared than ever. We know the shift back to a corporate environment can be many things – exciting, stretching, challenging and sometimes even a bit overwhelming. With UBS Career Comeback, the employee gets personalized and timely support throughout their transition along with access to a global cohort of returners to collaborate, learn and grow together.

Our career comeback program is a global and award-winning program that offers experienced professionals with a career break of two years or more an opportunity to restart their career in the corporate world. This is a great opportunity to access an untapped source of experienced talent while helping us hire more diverse individuals. Returnees bring diversity of thought, life experience and professional maturity to the firm. And, in both the short and long-term, we have to unleash this potential to get the right talent for us at UBS. It is a great pool of talent to tap into that has been underutilized for decades.

How has the career comeback programme benefited the women employees and shaped their future in the organization?

UBS globally has an award-winning career comeback programme enables professionals on a career break to get back into corporate roles in a smooth manner. UBS India piloted the program in 2018 with the aim to support candidates who’ve been out of the traditional workplace for at least 18 months. In India this category is largely represented by women who have taken career breaks for family or health reasons. Hence this programme also acts as a catalyst to build the pipeline of future women leaders, though we have a few male professionals who have joined through the programme as well. Since the launch we have over 60 career comebackers across functions. 

The industry is changing rapidly and with that UBS has sought out to show their support to female employees across the globe in every way possible. Our career comeback program is an example of how we understand the responsibilities of women and extend our hand to welcome them again. The duration of the break is not a concern when it comes to talent driven individuals, which is why we have these programs in the first place and to show them how much we truly value them. Breaking the barriers of difficulties is our main motive in this program to ensure that your return is comfortable and smooth.

What has been the employee experience of the career comeback programme so far and what are the results that are to be seen?

Our career comeback offers some key benefits to those who join us;

• A well thought, six-nine month program to help candidates settle in the corporate world and catch up with the fast changing world of business
• A coach who offers guidance on learning opportunities, dealing with difficult situations and general support as these candidates settle into their roles
• A global network of career comeback candidates help each other through common experiences and become a safe space for discussions
• We have flexible working available for all and this proves critical in supporting the transition in the first few months

All these interventions ensure that career returners smoothly come back to the corporate world. They also are remarkably loyal and in the last few years we have had many examples of promotions and internal mobility among our career comeback candidates.

How essential is it to have a career comeback program for professionals taking a career break due to particular reasons?

The world of business is fast paced and even a short break can lead to significant loss in remaining up to date with industry knowledge, practices, and success parameters. So having a program that brings them up to speed, offers a network of individuals with similar experiences, and a coach to help provides a cushion to the career returner. The first few months of returning to the corporates is critical for most candidates as it defines whether the candidate will continue working or quit for good. Having a career comeback program ensures a smooth transition and keeps the candidates motivated. We at UBS, focusing to provide numerous opportunities to the people who have been on a career break for two years or more, and are ready to make a complete career shift back into the corporate world. We believe in hiring talented people who want to (re)start building long-term careers.