- On-Ramping
On-ramping is the process of re-entering the
workforce after taking acareer break (usually to care for family). It is paired with the term "off-ramping", or exiting the workforce as a temporary career break.The Hidden Brain Drain, a taskforce led by economist Sylvia Ann Hewlett, defined the term as "many professional women in the US do not drop out of their careers altogether, but they do take breaks. However, they often find it difficult to re-enter the workforce. This has been called 'off-ramping' (taking time out of a career for one reason or another) and 'on-ramping' (rejoining the career path). Women in the US, on average, spend a relatively short amount of time off-ramped (around 2.2 years), but even this can incur financial penalties. Women who spend around three years off-ramp see their earning power decrease by 37 per cent." [Elaine Aarons, Hidden Brain Drain Taskforce, as reported in http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=114645&d=pndpr&h=pnhpr&f=pnfpr]
The term appears as early as 2005 ["We Can Stop the Female Brain Drain," by Sylvia Ann Hewlett, March 6, 2005] , reaching public mention on
NPR [marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2005/12/09/off_ramping/] that same year. The term appears in articles in publications such as theWall Street Journal [Sue Shellenbarger of the Wall Street Journal writes about the efforts of Lehman Bros and other Employers to help high achieving women reenter the workforce.] by 2006,and by 2008 appears in formal training materials for organizations such as the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants [www.aicpa.org/download/career/wofi/0666-331_WLWIECs_Off-Ramping_Program.pdf] as a businessbest practice .Sylvia Ann Hewlett, as the likeliest originator of the term (in Hewlett & Luce (2005), [cite press release
title = Off Ramp and OnRampers
publisher = Center for Work Life Policy
date =2005-02-25
url = http://www.worklifepolicy.org/documents/news-pr10.pdf
accessdate = 2006-07-03 ] ) has developed a career site (YourOnRamp) to capitalize on it and is a supporter of the entrepreneural networking organizationLadiesWhoLaunch .References
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