Reboarding after a furlough or exit
Maybe “Why does reboarding happen” is a more appropriate question. Reboarding is related to onboarding; they’re sort of like first cousins. Reboarding is the HR process that brings former employees back to an organization after they have exited. Perhaps they went on maternity leave or a sabbatical or FMLA. When these employees then return to work, they encounter a modified “onboarding” process to get them back up to speed in their absence.
Now that COVID-19 is a part of our new reality, this new pandemic-inspired criteria has been added to the definition of reboarding. There’s a general sense of reboarding everyone back into the office, but there’s a great deal that’s still pending. So how can your organization successfully reboard the employees that were impacted by COVID-19? By being well prepared.
To prove my point, I’m compelled to share a recent reboarding story that poignantly underscores the critical importance of being prepared to reboard both your onsite and remote employees.
A friend of mine was furloughed back in May. Although employees were initially informed they’d be reboarded in July, COVID continued to ravage on, thwarting the plan. As a result, the furlough date was pushed out to late August.
She found out on a Thursday that she was returning to her remote position first thing Monday morning. After logging in, she realized – very frustratingly – that she could no longer access the main applications she used to perform her duties. After immediately emailing her manager to request access, she was finally granted application access on Thursday afternoon. This is an extreme and unfortunately, a real example. This was not a good employee reboarding experience.
As one may assume, the pandemic caused this recent massive uptick in employee reboarding. Right now, it’s creating a consequential chasm in HR’s standard operating procedures. Hundreds of thousands of workers who were temporarily furloughed or laid off back in the early days of 2020 are being brought back into the company fold, both onsite and remote employees.
Aside from those truly starting back up are the majority of employees that have worked remotely and now must make plans to return back to the office. That’s a form of reboarding in itself, due to the complexities of adapting to a physical environment following the pandemic. That’s a lot of reboarding, folks…and a whole lot of work.
Enter Click Boarding’s employee journey experts. We know effective reboarding doesn’t just happen. It requires a conscious, calculated effort by an entire team to compliantly and proactively reboard former employees. That’s why we created our step-by-step framework to bring your team back to the office, efficiently and cost-effectively.
From addressing fears and concerns to empathetic communications to acknowledging employee well-being and more, we’ve engineered a plan your workforce will appreciate and reflect on with positive thoughts.
Download our free The 5 As to Reboard Employees Post COVID-19 Guide today. Rest assured, it’s the right way to support your people in these troubling, disruptive times.
We’ve got your back
Make reboarding a positive, consistent experience, and your returning employees will be more engaged, increase their productivity and stay longer. Click can help. Talk to one of our onboarding experts today!
