For years, organisations have spoken about bringing more women into the workforce. Yet a more difficult question often goes unanswered. Why do so many experienced women struggle to return after taking a career break?
The answer, according to Reena Tyagi, Chief People and Organisation Officer at Generali Central Life Insurance, has less to do with capability and far more to do with how organisations continue to define commitment, performance and career progression.
In a conversation with People Matters, Tyagi says many workplaces still reward uninterrupted careers, even as employees increasingly follow non-linear professional journeys shaped by caregiving, health, family transitions and changing life priorities.
The discussion comes as Generali Central Life Insurance rolls out its Restart initiative, a structured programme designed to help women who have taken career breaks rebuild confidence and re-enter the workforce through training, mentoring and onboarding support.
Career breaks are rarely about one decision
Many conversations around women's workforce participation reduce career breaks to personal choices. Tyagi believes the reality is much more layered.
She says career interruptions are usually the result of several structural challenges working together rather than one isolated event.
According to Tyagi, the biggest contributor continues to be the unequal distribution of caregiving responsibilities.
Whether caring for children, ageing parents or managing family health emergencies, women continue to carry a disproportionate share of unpaid care work. Workplace structures, she says, have not kept pace with this reality.
The challenge extends beyond caregiving.
Tyagi points out many organisations still assess employees through frameworks built around uninterrupted careers.
"When presence is equated with commitment and gaps are read as disengagement, women who step away, even briefly, re-enter at a disadvantage that compounds over time," she says.
She also notes many workplaces remain hesitant to embrace flexible working arrangements, including remote and hybrid work, because of assumptions around productivity.
At the same time, social expectations continue to influence personal decisions.
"In most cases, pre-conceived notions or psychological barriers often stop them from fighting for themselves. They opt out of work, assuming caregiving is primarily the woman's responsibility."
Her conclusion is straightforward. These challenges reinforce one another.
"Addressing workforce continuity meaningfully requires organisations to examine all factors simultaneously, not treat them as separate HR workstreams."
The problem is not career breaks. It is how organisations respond to them
Career gaps have historically been viewed as interruptions. Tyagi believes employers are slowly beginning to rethink this assumption.
She says declining long-term workforce continuity among women exposes a larger flaw in how organisations have traditionally been designed.
Caregiving, health and family transitions have always intersected with careers, particularly for women. Many workplaces, however, still operate as though every employee follows the same predictable career path.
"What the decline in women's workforce continuity is telling us is that sustained, uninterrupted careers were never a universal reality, and organizations are only now beginning to acknowledge and address this gap."
Tyagi also highlights another disconnect.
"There is also a gap worth naming between inclusion as an intent and inclusion as a lived experience. Hiring numbers can look healthy while continuity quietly erodes."
Her view is that organisations make real progress only when career breaks stop being treated as exceptions.
Instead, companies need flexible structures, genuine return-to-work pathways and leaders who do not see a career pause as lost potential.
Experience does not disappear during a career break
One of the strongest themes emerging from the conversation is the difference between perceived capability and actual capability.
Tyagi says many women returning after extended breaks question whether their skills remain relevant because technology, business models and ways of working evolve rapidly.
Yet she believes employers often overlook the strengths gained during time away from paid work.
According to Tyagi, resilience, emotional intelligence, people management and the ability to balance competing priorities often become even stronger during career breaks.
"If anything, they get sharper."
The larger issue, she says, is organisational readiness.
Many employers expect returnees to perform immediately without providing structured support during the transition.
"What most organisations are still missing is structured transition support."
She describes expecting someone to operate at full speed on day one after several years away from work as unrealistic and one of the reasons many return-to-work journeys fail.
Within this context, Tyagi says Generali Central Life Insurance's Restart initiative combines employment opportunities with structured onboarding, mentoring, buddy support and role-specific learning.
She says successful re-entry requires more than simply offering a job.
"It takes the right environment, the one where people can rebuild confidence and find their footing again before they are expected to run."
Women are redefining career success
Tyagi believes employee expectations have changed significantly.
Career growth remains important, but sustainability has become equally valuable.
Today's professionals, particularly women, increasingly expect workplaces to recognise caregiving responsibilities, different life stages and changing personal priorities.
Flexibility, she says, is no longer viewed as an employee benefit.
It has become a deciding factor when professionals choose employers.
Hybrid work, flexible schedules and outcome-based performance measurement have moved from optional extras to baseline expectations for many employees.
She also sees a broader shift in how careers themselves are viewed.
Instead of expecting continuous upward movement, more professionals now accept pauses, slower phases and deliberate transitions as legitimate parts of working life.
Organisations, she says, need evaluation systems that reflect this reality. "Policies are a starting point, not the finish line."
Employees increasingly expect supportive leadership, mentoring, mental wellbeing support and cultures where using flexibility does not make people professionally invisible.
Culture determines whether women stay after they return
Tyagi believes successful reintegration depends less on individual programmes and more on organisational culture.
She says women returning after career breaks often bring maturity, resilience and valuable interpersonal skills.
What many need is time, encouragement and structured support while rebuilding professional confidence.
She identifies several practices that make a measurable difference:
- Buddy programmes and peer support
- Phased onboarding instead of immediate full workloads
- Regular manager check-ins
- Continuous learning and upskilling opportunities
- Long-term workplace flexibility
- Performance evaluation based on contribution rather than hours worked
Learning support, she adds, is particularly important because workplaces and technologies continue changing rapidly.
She also stresses flexibility cannot exist only during re-entry.
It must remain embedded within everyday organisational culture if companies want experienced women to stay and grow.
Hiring systems need to catch up with modern careers
Tyagi believes hiring itself requires a fundamental rethink.
She challenges the assumption that successful careers must always follow uninterrupted timelines.
Instead, she urges organisations to evaluate professionals based on capability, experience and potential rather than continuous employment history.
Many women returning after career breaks, she says, bring broader life experience, stronger resilience and improved prioritisation skills.
Recruitment processes should reflect these strengths.
Leadership development also requires greater flexibility.
Employees should be able to pause, reskill and return without permanently losing access to future leadership opportunities.
"A career break should not mean stepping off the leadership track."
She also questions traditional ideas of commitment.
Long working hours and constant availability, she says, are poor indicators of leadership potential.
Better measures include collaboration, sound judgement, adaptability and business outcomes.
Retention will become the real test of inclusion
Looking ahead, Tyagi believes organisations will increasingly be judged not by how many women they hire, but by how successfully they retain and re-integrate experienced talent.
She says companies succeeding over the long term will embed flexibility, empathy and inclusion into everyday leadership decisions rather than relying solely on formal policies.
By contrast, organisations clinging to rigid career structures risk losing experienced professionals who follow non-linear career paths.
Leadership behaviour, she adds, will become one of the biggest differentiators.
Managers who provide structured support, empathy and meaningful mentoring directly influence whether employees remain with an organisation and continue progressing.
Tyagi also frames the issue as a business decision rather than simply a diversity objective.
"Retaining experienced women is not just a diversity goal. The perspective, resilience, and people management capability that experienced professionals bring are genuine organisational strengths."
For organisations competing for skilled talent, the message is increasingly difficult to ignore.
Career breaks are becoming more common.
The question is whether workplaces evolve quickly enough to keep experienced professionals from becoming permanent exits instead of temporary pauses.