Reboarding is implemented
Reboarding can be beneficial when an employee starts a new job, moves to another department, returns from maternity leave, other leave or illness.
The big reason why reboarding is so hot right now is the hope that the "displaced" employees, including those who have been working from home and any rehired employees, can return to their offices and workplaces and get back to full strength very quickly.
Repatriated and rehired employees
The repatriated employees have been sitting in their home offices, which have been more or less efficiently set up - they have new daily routines, including work routines.
Some have experienced shoulder, back or other pain. Others may have put on a few pounds and look different than before the repatriation.
Some may have had a lot of work or new tasks at the home office and thus experienced the repatriation as a stressful period.
Different daily life
The rehired employees show up at the same workplace - they have not been employed for a period of time and have had a completely different daily routine than when they were employed at the workplace before.
Some employees may even have been in the office for the entire period and have had the opportunity to maintain their relationships with colleagues, managers and perhaps build new ones.
Re-establishment
All of these employees have to meet in the office and in the company, and they all have new routines and habits.
It's important that management doesn't assume that everything is the same, because it's NOT.
Employees need to re-establish their relationships with colleagues and management, get used to working together again in the same location - face-to-face - and involve each other in task solutions.
During the repatriation, a whole new way of working together has been built and has been more flexible.
This has arisen because time (working hours and free time) has been blurred.
Digital meetings and, in some places, digital breaks and parties have become second nature.
Of course, it needs to change and decisions need to be made, meetings, relationships, structure and working methods need to be as they were before the "repatriation".
Structured planning
Start working in a structured way to plan reboarding and then execute it. Reboarding should contain at least the following 3 elements:
- Information package for the employee
- Conducting dialogs and surveys
- Preparing the physical environment.
Provide employees with a pre-launch information pack
Spend time and resources on creating informational materials for employees and managers who return to your physical
locations after the repatriation or break from work.
- Are there changes to the strategy, goals, action plans and budgets?
- Does the organization look the same as it did before the
repatriation - have new employees and managers joined? - What new policies and restrictions are in place?
- Have changes been made to the division of tasks between employees, managers and departments?
Format information
Be careful with the content, form and format of the information - should it be a graphical presentation or can it be conveyed through video?
We recommend that you send a single package to your employees so they can quickly see and navigate all the content. In short, create a reboarding package.
Reboarding and employee dialogs
Management should engage in a dialogue with the employee - both a formalized and informal dialogue.
It's a good idea to make a plan for the dialogues - when, with whom, at what interval should they be conducted and what topics should be discussed.
Start the dialogues and surveys before employees physically arrive at the company.
Surveys
It can be a good idea to conduct surveys that can form the basis for the topics to be discussed in the subsequent dialogues.
Here are some suggestions for different themes for the dialogues:
- Satisfaction with home office
- Desire to continue working from home to some extent
- What has been effective and ineffective in relation to homework
- What have been the challenges of returning to the office
- Management during and after the "repatriation"
It's important to articulate the uncertainty and be ready to talk
about what employees need.
Work habits
Some of the new work habits that employees have adopted are effective for the individual employee, and it's a good idea to talk about the work habits in terms of which ones to keep and implement for greater efficiency.
In this context, decisions must also be made about employees' future working conditions, for example:
- Fixed home working days
- Homework fixed
- Less travel as it can be replaced by digital meetings
- Digital meetings, which meetings are conducted digitally and who participates
- Which meetings should be held in person
- Which employees should keep equipment for their home office
- Are there other habits from working from home that could be implemented in the office
Dialogues with the employee
In the dialogues with the employee, it should be articulated and decided what should apply to the individual employee in terms of working from home, meetings, equipment, travel, etc.
In addition, department and team dialogues should also be conducted to clarify how collaboration, meetings and breaks should be conducted to be as efficient as possible.
Give space
Allow space and time to re-establish relationships and build new ones in the office and across the company.
By this we mean both the relationship between employees, but also the re-establishment of the relationship between manager and employee, which is a significant factor in retention and employee job satisfaction.
Prepare the physical environment
The physical environment must be ready for returning and rehired employees.
It must be possible to keep a distance and offices, common rooms, toilets etc. must be prepared for new rules and structures.
At the same time, preparations must be made to receive and hand over equipment that the employee has used or will use at the home office.