On International Women’s Day, Emirates NBD, a leading banking group in the MENAT (Middle East, North Africa and Turkey) region, has launched the pilot of its ‘Women’s Returnship’ programme, an initiative that supports women’s reintegration into the workforce after an extended career break. Emirates NBD Group is one of the first UAE-based organisations to introduce such a programme in the region.

The programme, which will initially be launched as a pilot, will offer women who have been out of the workplace for a period oftwo or more years the opportunity to join Emirates NBD, specifically intechnology and digital roles, aligned with the United Nation’s International Women’s Day theme of ‘DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality’. Women participating in the programme will be offered support including mentoring, learning and flexible working arrangements, making their transition back to working life as easy as possible, while enabling the bank to tap into a fantastic and capable pool of talent. It will be open to all eligible women in the UAE, before being expanded across the bank’s global offices.

“At Emirates NBD Group, we recognise the enormous talent and potential women bring to the workforce and continue to be deeply committed to building an inclusive culture for women to thrive. We are proud to be one of the first UAE-based organsations to bring a pioneering ‘Women’s Returnship’programmeto the region, adding to our existing strong pipeline of initiatives to support gender diversity.” said EmanAbdulrazzaq, Group Chief Human Resource Officer, Emirates NBD.

Abdulrazzaq added, “This programme further fortifies our continued commitment to the UAE government’s focus on increasing female equality and representation across public and private sector workplaces. We look forward to welcoming and providing an encouraging environment to these talented women, as they re-enter the workforce and look to jumpstart their careers.”

Over the last year, Emirates NBD has maintained a female workforce participation rate of approximately 40% which is above global industry benchmarks for the financial sector and were one of the first large UAE employers to launch flexible work as a permanent benefit. Last year the bank also expanded its leave options to now offer one of the region’s most competitive and comprehensive suite of family leave policies, especially by doubling maternity and paternity leave.