No, it's not coffeecake. Under the leadership of CEO Brenda Barnes, Sara Lee has cooked up something new. Returnships -- paid internships for people who have been out of the workforce for three to five years. The returnship program isn't targeting women specifically, but Barnes says she expects most applicants to be female.
Barnes is no stranger to the topic. She left PepsiCo in 1997 to take care of her own family, merged back into corporate life and is currently one of only a dozen female CEOs in the U.S.
I say, "Brilliant move, Brenda."
I hope more companies follow your lead. Since women are earning the majority of college and graduate degrees their skills are vital to the economy and to your company.
And, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that in the world of Marketing to Women this is a stroke of genius. I hope you (and your PR department) will let your corporate halo shine and share this news with consumers, not just the business world. Returnships will resonate with anyone who temporarily left the work force, or wished that they could have. Your brands will benefit -- I predict you will see them tossed into lots of shopping carts.
Click here to see what UBS and Goldman Sachs are doing to welcome women back to workforce.
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