Reboarding – 10 Tips For A Positive Return To The Workplace

 The workplace is changing again….

We may be able to return to the physical workplace in the next few months,
but is everyone ready? Reboarding is the concept of bringing people back in to the workplace who have been absent for a while. Once a process for mothers returning from maternity leave and the long term sick this is now a real situation to be considered and planned for the majority of workers.

Some may have been working from home and be reticent to change, others may have been on furlough for much of the last 12 months and be concerned about loss of skills.
What they need will be varied.

Here are 10 tips for planning your way through the next six months

1. Set out a timeline and be clear in your communication around reboarding. Set out when and how they will be brought back to work, or when things will change. If things aren’t changing be clear about that too.
2. Communicate, communicate, communicate! Build clear internal communication lines. Set clear expectations, and avoid overwhelm by drip feeding information
3. Are there any changes to roles when they come back? These need to be explained. Will you need new policies if there is a return to the workplace in terms of ill health? PPE use? Expectations regarding interactions with co-workers or suppliers? Are there social distancing processes which need explaining or reinforcing. Remember that fire safety and health & safety  training and similar may also need to be renewed.
4. Advertise your helplines and other methods of communication to ensure people feel supported.
5. Be cognisant of what has changed. Interviews and pulse surveys, groups conversations and 1 to 1’s – assess the impact on mental health over the last 12 months. Consider that whilst they may be able to return to the workplace, they may not feel safe and these changes are still an upheaval.  Don’t do this as a one off, check in often. What are their changing needs?
6. Update the team! Are there new clients or new projects? Get everyone up to speed.
7. Where part of the organisation has continued to work and part has been furloughed, consider how the culture ensures everyone feels equally valued. Look at and find out about the mood in the room of those who have worked throughout and how they feel about furloughed colleagues. Find out fears and concerns of those who have been on furlough. Encourage mentoring and socials between the groups. Remind both groups of the sacrifices and uncertainties they have each had to endure.
8. Consider risk assessments for people and wellness action plan updates. A Wellness Action Plan (WAP) is a personal document written by employees and shared with individual managers. It includes information on what keeps the individual well at work and when and why they might become unwell. It’s an agreement to promote ongoing discussion and whilst it’s not legally binding, it can help you have a productive and helpful conversation should issues arise. They are for everyone, not just someone who has a issue right now. If this feels like quite a change, use it as part of the  reboarding process to set the scene for life after the pandemic.
9. Where there is going to be a long-term working from home, assess the impact on them. What are their concerns? What are their costs? Don’t assume that just because they have been happy with the situation when we were under the pandemic that it is acceptable moving forward.
10. Focus on re building social connections. Encourage participation and make it fun. Tell inspiring stories and remind people of the positive impact the organisation has on the world. Remind people of why they chose to work for you and use reboarding as a reason to get to know everyone better. Its a good time to remind everyone of your company values or to discuss what the new company values might be.

How may we help you?

We are happy to help you to get your strategy in place. Whether its advice about implementing wellness action plans, building a team culture or mental health awareness for managers we have a full suite of workshops. We also have a free monthly wellness workshops

Our next online corporate strategy workshop is
Building your corporate wellbeing strategy 
10th June  2021

You may also want to take a look at the HSE work related stress indicator tool

Check out our other blogs and guest blogs for more wellbeing tips.