On-ramping refers to the process of re-entering the

workforce The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the Pooling (resource management), pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single types of companies, company or ...

after taking a

career break A career break is a period of time out from employment. It is commonly used for people to take time out of their career for personal or professional development. History A career break is usually between one month and two years long. Six months to ...

. This can be the result of needing to take care of family, taking a break professionally to explore other passions, or many other reasons. 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." A study by the Center for Work-Life Policy found that more than 90 percent of those women who off-ramp eventually wish to on-ramp back into the work force. The term appears as early as 2005, reaching public mention on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

that same year. The term appears in articles in publications such as the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' by 2006, and by 2008 appears in formal training materials for organizations such as the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants as a business

best practice A best practice is a method or technique that has been generally accepted as superior to other known alternatives because it often produces results that are superior to those achieved by other means or because it has become a standard way of doing ...

. Sylvia Ann Hewlett, as the likeliest originator of the term (in Hewlett & Luce (2005),) has developed a career site (YourOnRamp) to capitalize on it and is a supporter of the entrepreneurial networking organization LadiesWhoLaunch.

References

Workforce Human resource management Career development {{labor-stub