ACT Fibernet, the Indian internet service provider, has announced the second season of its ‘returnship programme’ wherein the Company gives opportunities to people who took a career break, due to various reasons, to rejoin the workforce. The Company is calling this a ‘welcome back’ initiative.
Realising that different people choose to take a break from corporate life for different reasons, ACT Fibernet is “sensitive to these choices and respects them”, states Shefali Mohapatra, chief people officer, Atria Convergence Technologies.
Through the ‘Welcome Back’ programme, “we aim to encourage individuals to continue their careers and make a comeback in the corporate world. We also strive to create a diverse working environment that encourages people from different backgrounds to contribute their perspectives and passion to our company,” adds Mohapatra.
Under this unique initiative, the candidates go through a six-week skilling programme, which covers fundamental skills of corporate behaviour, functional training and hands-on training working on real-time projects. This is followed by an assessment, post which appropriate candidates are hired. Those who complete the programme successfully also receive certificates. The candidates are paid a fixed stipend and are hired in areas such as telesales, contact centre support, retention teams and so on. This is the second time the company is organising such an initiative and is trying to upskill people and bring them back into the workforce.
The programme aims to give a second chance to mothers and even those who took a break for health and personal reasons, former defence personnel or people who lost their job due to the pandemic.