Cognizant  Corp has launched a 12-week paid 'Returnship Programme’ for technology experts hoping to restart their careers after a break.

“A break in a professional’s career can give an opportunity to reflect, find areas of focus, and return stronger to the next phase of a professional journey with a renewed sense of purpose. Many such talented professionals looking to return to the workforce are women, and Cognizant’s inaugural cohort includes women taking on Engineering Management Roles in the Digital Engineering practice," stated Rajesh Nambiar, chairman and managing director, Cognizant India.

The programme is focused on giving returners with a supportive environment and access to training, upskilling, mentorship, and other resources. These experts  will work with cutting-edge technology through the programme and will subsequently be considered for full-time positions at Cognizant.

“The programme is an innovative way to get diverse talent in the door, irrespective of when their last professional role was," Nambiar  added.

Cognizant has also established women-centric hiring and retention goals for organization leaders, which are part of the formal annual performance ratings process. Women professionals form around 38% the organization's total workforce in India and almost 45% of the workforce in tier-2 cities.

With a focus on accelerating gender diversity in its leadership pipeline, Cognizant has pledged to put 1,000 high performing women in leadership roles by 2021, Nambiar stated. This will be done through Propel, a global leadership development initiative, which aims to help women at mid-management levels to accelerate their careers through coaching and mentoring in partnership with external certified executive coaches.