Beyond the First Day: 5 Ways Reboarding Boosts Employee Engagement

Traditionally, reboarding refers to reintroducing employees to the workplace after absences like parental leaves, promotions, or sabbaticals. However, as the world continues to adjust to shifts in work from the COVID-19 pandemic, reboarding has taken on new additional meanings. Whether employees choose to work remotely, in person, or hybrid, organizations need to support them through the transition process.

Providing this support ensures that employee engagement remains high—a critical initiative as the number of engaged employees dropped to 32% in 2022, the first decline in 10 years. Actively disengaged employees decrease productivity and efficiency. And without initiatives to keep employees engaged, organizations may risk losing high-quality employees to competitors.

With BambooHR, you can create a reboarding process that encourages honest, two-way communication and creates an unbeatable employee experience. Discover how BambooHR elevates your workplace culture.

What Is Reboarding?

Reboarding—also known as re-onboarding, upskilling, or reskilling—refers to bringing back employees who were absent for a period of time. It includes all the steps employers take to set employees up for success after they’ve rejoined your company. You may also want to reboard employees after workplace conditions have significantly changed.

Situations where reboarding may be required include:

Reboarding vs. Onboarding

The biggest distinguishing factor between reboarding and onboarding is frequency. Onboarding is a process that happens just once and can take a few days to a few months to complete. Reboarding is an ongoing process and should be done frequently to ensure employees remain familiar with company culture and maintain meaningful connections.

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6 Key Elements of an Effective Reboarding Plan

According to SHRM, here are the six key elements to include in your reboarding plan:

By creating an effective reboarding plan with these elements, you’ll help retain top talent and build a great employee experience.

5 Ways Reboarding Can Boost Employee Engagement

Here are five ways effective reboarding processes improve employee engagement and motivation.

1. Maintain a Well-Rounded Onboarding Process

Both onboarding and reboarding are part of a cohesive process that keeps new and current employees updated on company information, values, job responsibilities, and more. Creating a well-rounded onboarding process helps employees acclimate to your organization more successfully. And the more comfortable people feel at work, the more motivated they are to work hard.

According to BambooHR onboarding stats, employees who complete a successful onboarding process are 18 times more committed to their workplace. BambooHR also found that people who go through effective onboarding are 89% more engaged at work and 91% are more connected to their workplace.

The same goes for reboarding. Engaged, connected, and motivated employees are more likely to contribute positively to business goals, performance, and growth—even during difficult economic times.

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2. Enhance Employee Retention Rates

A major benefit of reboarding is that it reintroduces employees to your company’s values, goals, and mission—which can reignite employees’ passion for their jobs and boost their desire to stay.

Additionally, reboarding can offer employees a glimpse into potential career development opportunities, something crucial to nearly half of today’s employees. According to Culture Amp, employees with opportunities for professional development are 21% more engaged at work, increasing employee retention rates.

By keeping employees around longer, you avoid the cost of onboarding and training new employees. It costs employers approximately $103 per hour to train employees, and most spend 72 hours per year training employees. That’s around $7,000 per year per employee!

3. Promote Psychological Safety at Work

Creating a psychologically safe workplace encourages employees to communicate openly and work more closely together to resolve mistakes.

Psychological safety refers to a shared belief within an organization that employees can (and should) take risks, express ideas or concerns, ask questions, and admit their shortcomings—all which is done without fear of negative consequences.

Employees who feel psychologically safe at work are more likely to collaborate with colleagues, share constructive feedback, and participate in group discussions. When employees feel psychologically safe within the workplace, they’re 48% more loyal to the company, which increases retention rates and overall satisfaction.

Reboarding promotes psychological safety at work in several important ways:

4. Improve Communication Between Management and Employees

Reboarding processes improve communication between employees and leaders. Part of the reboarding process should also discuss processes around sharing feedback or ideas with management. Doing so gives managers the ability to empower employees to do their best work and feel comfortable sharing ideas to improve processes and policies. Employees who feel comfortable communicating and collaborating with managers are more motivated.

5. Leverage the Benefits of Employee Engagement Software

Employee engagement software can automate lengthy or manual tasks in the reboarding process, such as gathering feedback or sending out communications. By reducing that administrative burden, your team can create a seamless experience for employees and spend more time on tasks that make your organization great.

This helps cast a positive light on the organization and company culture, making employees feel more excited about being part of the team. And employees who feel more excited about work are more likely to stay for the long term.

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