Episode D.037 Reboarding Returning Employees

Show Objectives
How do you effectively bring your employees back to work and ensure they feel safe, secure, and ready to perform? An updated Reboarding Strategy could be your solution. Reboarding is a big topic right now due to the thousands of employees being brought back to work after a coronavirus-related furlough or an extended workplace closure.

​Why You Should Reboard
Providing employees with the chance to make their challenges and concerns known may help you identify potential problems with you plans to bring your staff back to work. By enabling real, two-way communication, leaders may turn the COVID-19 crisis into an opportunity to strengthen corporate culture, increase employee engagement and boost productivity and loyalty over the long run.

1. Management teams should lead with empathy and demonstrate an understanding that while all of their employees have experienced this crisis, they haven’t all experienced it the same way. 
2. Recognize that employees will need time to adapt to new ways of working post-pandemic. 
3. Re-acclimate an onsite workforce will need a communication strategy that can help employees who are returning to the workplace, as well as those who continue to work remotely.
4. Provide employees with the chance to make their challenges and concerns known so management teams can identify potential problems with their return-to-the-workplace plans. 

Reboarding Considerations 
Here are a few steps you can take right now to post-pandemic-proof your business.

1. Do not expect getting “back to normal” will be anything close to normal. 
2. Anticipate that the return to normalcy could take 12 to 18 months. 
3. “Reboard” your employees. 
4. Train your managers and supervisors to recognize the invisible signs of trauma. 
5. Equip your leaders. 

What You Need to Do
For employees: Reboarding should be focused on building trust and setting expectations.

1. Schedule an opportunity to reconnect
2. Debrief your employees
3. Adapt work
4. Reinforce company culture

For Owners, Managers and Leaders: Your Reboarding goal is to build confidence and focus on good communication while moving your business forward.

1. Create a return-to-work plan
2. Increase communication
3. Express empathy
4. Drip Information​
5. Raise awareness of cyber security risks
6. Post resources and Eliminate hurdles

written by: Donna Kunde