A structured onboarding process is key for new hires during their probation period. Without guidance or a sense of belonging, it’s easy to feel lost or disheartened. But what about those who aren’t brand new, just returning after a significant time away?
Designing a thoughtful re-onboarding process for employees returning from parental leave, illness, or career breaks can help ease the transition and reduce early stress.
A lot can change in months—or even years—at work and within the company culture. Returning employees may feel left out of shared experiences and events, making it harder to reconnect. This emotional distance can lead to isolation and anxiety.
On the professional side, they’ll also need to catch up on new tools, processes, and information. While changes are typically introduced gradually for active employees, those returning must absorb them all at once. Even weeks later, they might stumble upon something that’s second nature to others—but brand new to them—causing insecurity or frustration.
If no one points something out, returning employees may not even know what questions to ask. That’s why proactive communication, clarity, and support during re-onboarding are critical.
Successful re-onboarding is a shared responsibility. HR and management need to develop a well-structured system for this, which includes informing the team as well as the returning colleague.
Let the team know ahead of time who is returning and when. (Only share the reason for the absence if it’s public.) There may be new team members who never worked with the returning colleague, so it’s helpful to highlight their previous achievements to reintroduce them and showcase their contributions. Former teammates can help share these insights.
In addition to assigning a buddy or mentor, encourage an open, empathetic, and supportive team mindset.
Confidence comes from being well-informed. Share updated project details, organizational changes, and communicate expectations. Offer refresher training if needed, and be flexible—adjustment takes time.
Ensure they know who to turn to for questions, and request feedback on their re-onboarding experience to monitor progress and engagement.
As well as the reasons and the goals, it is of course important what tools we have at our disposal. A digital internal communication platform that a returning colleague can access (either for the first time or if the company already has such a digital platform) provides a comfortable handhold. Here he can navigate at his own pace, with as much repetition as he is comfortable with. He can look around in the “past” (results, news, galleries), he can also have a better insight into social life - so he can get to know more formal and informal settings.
The Blue Colibri App's onboarding and re-onboarding module supports personalized return journeys with structured yet flexible systems.
Employees can access up-to-date corporate information, internal news, and educational resources like policies, training content, or company changes.
Visual formats—like videos, infographics, and image galleries—help foster a more approachable and human connection.
Summarizing practical internal changes is just as important as creating an empathetic welcome. Re-onboarding is a valuable opportunity to rebuild trust, engagement, and a shared future.
