Employee Return Policy

You probably don't need a disaster response expert these days to point out that a lack of preparedness can undermine even the most conscientious efforts to address a crisis.

So, given the events, canceled events, rescheduled and re-canceled events of the last 18+ months, it's time business leaders started thinking about an "Employee Return Policy."

Why? Because regardless of "The Great Resignation" threat many companies are fearing, it’s a safe bet that companies will be re-boarding a good portion of their workforces back onto the ship – a changed ship sailing a changed sea. And these changes – unrecognized or unaddressed – could be an "invisible enemy" as dangerous as the pandemic.

One thing this crisis has taught us is that it's better to identify what you don't know now than to wait and find out.

Two years ago, the pandemic wasn't on our radar. Today its ensuing and recurring impact is all too obvious. And while the most competent leaders have been preparing continuity plans to draw upon when employees return, how many are prepared to address how employees are returning?

How many have a plan for integrating both furloughed and current employees back onto a ship that, like them, will have undergone considerable disruption by the time this crisis ends?

How many can even name the disruptions? Perhaps more important, how many understand how to turn them into an advantage?

Disruptions? What Disruptions?

While even the most seasoned captains of industry can't precisely know what lies ahead, it's probably a fair assumption that it will include a shift in beliefs, preferences, expectations, attitudes and/or behaviors on the part of both employees and their leaders.

Onsite, remote and furloughed people have been viewing the world of work through a new lens and arriving at some altered opinions about words like, "remote," "flexible," "contingent," "prerequisite," "essential," "career" and "performance."

Businesses have undergone significant disruptions in their strategies, operations and business models, making them unfamiliar or even unrecognizable to those who are re-boarding.

So, how does a forward-thinking business leader come up with a prescient return policy that will not only address but capitalize on the views from that new lens?

Don't Just Return, Re-Learn

When coming out of a storm like the current one, it would be tempting to view a return to normal as a considerable improvement. But is it?

The dictionary defines "normal" as "usual, standard, typical, common, ordinary, conventional, run-of-the-mill, dime-a-dozen." Do these words describe a ship you want to return to? Do they capture the “spirit” of a ship your employees want to re-board?

Over the past few months, more and more have been answering, “Maybe not,” “Not so sure” or “No way!” Why is that? More importantly, how can leaders respond to this new mindset?

Step 1: Recognize, Respect and Reflect

While being thrown off a boat is not the best way to learn how to swim, merely getting wet is a critical first step.

Virtually every employee has been drenched with “pandemic learnings” – new ways of seeing, thinking about and evaluating the workplace and their role in it. And confronting those changes is sure to be a leadership challenge. But it can be done by recognizing, respecting and reflecting on the changes that have taken place across organizations in the last year and a half.

A simple assessment might be an excellent way to begin. Simply ask onsite, remote and furloughed employees to share any learnings they’ve taken away from the work experience during the pandemic.

This survey can be done within individual workgroups, on different levels, through group conversations or even as a company-wide pulse survey, like the below.

Authors note on asking for employee input: We believe that employee input is essential when contemplating the lessons of this transformative period. It's Important to formulate a communication plan that includes telling the employees WHY you're asking for their input, WHAT you plan to do with it and HOW you will continue to communicate the impact of their input on the decisions you make. Then execute that communication plan - you will heighten engagement and increase employee loyalty.

Insights for Investment Survey

Next, compare their responses, identifying common ground and disconnects. Then use this information as a fresh lens through which to investigate and invest in the next step.

Step 2: Itemize, Prioritize and Re-Visualize

Regularly cleaned, this lens will help both employees and their leaders to accurately itemize, prioritize and re-visualize current and previously uncontested issues and assumptions. And it will enable them to see further ahead, better manage the horizon and become more predictive and visionary.

This process typically involves re-examining outdated policies and procedures, since temporary workarounds often lead to improved practices in the long term. It might also include a new look at the economic value of career development, work-life balance and the definitions of words like "productivity," "performance" and "engagement."

And it should include prioritizing the results of the review. Does the ship need emergency, preventive, or predictive maintenance? Which is more urgent - washing the decks or polishing the rails? We recommend that leaders select a hand full of the issues with the highest potential impact to address in-depth right away and save the rest for a later phase.

Our clients tell us that itemizing and prioritizing are relatively easy compared to re-visualizing. Why? Because the first two deal with “what is.”

Re-visualizing, on the other hand, is about “what could be,” and requires typically empirical thinkers to begin sentences with words like, "What if," "Imagine," and "Just suppose." This can be done, but only if leaders can first recognize the hidden gifts within the crisis.

A 17th-century poet provided an instructive example of this in the beautiful Haiku he wrote after watching his barn go up in smoke:

"Barn's burnt down, now I can see the moon."

Just as the absent barn provided an unobstructed view of the moon, the workarounds, substitutions, and triages employees undertake, and the realizations they come to when business-as-usual breaks down can provide unique opportunities for business improvement and set the stage for re-visualizing.

This starts with a clear, unobstructed review of the survey results and calls for an objective recognition of their implications. It ends with the answers to a few simple questions, "Given what we've learned, what should we do? How can we improve? Who might we become?" And finally, “How will we share these “gifts” with the organization as a whole and involve them in the improvement process?

Step 3: Review, Re-do, Discontinue

The observations, experiences and changed opinions uncovered in the "Insights for Investment” Survey will undoubtedly elicit a boatload (pun intended) of reactions - from "Ah-ha!" to "Who knew?" to "Who said that?"

All responses, of course, should be carefully reviewed. However, the most valuable will be those that cause leaders to re-do or discontinue processes, policies and practices that a critical mass of respondents deem detrimental to the business and/or to their well-being and engagement.

For example, if 30% or more point out that your “3-day Product-Return Policy” is turning buyers away, or that your current professional development programs are not as educational as the podcasts they’ve been watching, or that the existing invoicing process is costing the company money, maybe it’s time to take a serious look at their responses and ask, “Does this new information call for a re-do or a discontinue?”

We believe Step 3 will yield the most significant organizational advances and advantages. But we’re pretty sure that companies that only complete the first two will be better off than those who make no effort to evaluate and “learn from the learnings” of the last year.

Welcome (Back) Aboard!

For employees and leaders who will not be satisfied coming back to business as "usual, standard, typical, common, ordinary, conventional or run-of-the-mill," a return policy like the one described here can be valuable as well as practical.

It will reflect and respect both empirical and theoretical thinking. It will address both the head and the heart through an objective review of data and a reflective and creative consideration of possibilities. It can increase employee engagement and loyalty. And, it can significantly improve an organization's chances of achieving "many happy returns."

This article was co-authored by Bev Kaye, Linda Rogers & Connie Bentley.