How to Welcome a COVID Recovered Employee Back to Work

Tags: back to work after COVID

Organisations and their employees have endured the impact of ongoing COVID-19 crisis and are still trying to make peace with what awaits. In the meanwhile, businesses are facing a myriad of challenges. These challenges are not only in terms of economic downturns but also extends to employee safety.

Having said that, while some organisational corners remain untouched from the virus, a few employees might have been caught in its clutches. So, when such employees have recovered and are ready to be back to work after COVID, do you have a safety plan in place to welcome them back? If not, along with these summed up CDC guidelines by Lexology, Unify also has an easy welcome plan for you.

HR must Undertake Measures for Employee Re-engagement

The HR department must play a major role when welcoming an employee back to work after COVID. Before the employee physically re-enters the workplace, it is the HR’s responsibility to ensure that the employee is perfectly healthy to do so. Even the most minor display of symptoms can be a cause of concern at the workplace.

If an employee is ready to be back to work after COVID physically, the first step to ensure regarding complete recovery is to demand medical reports from him/ her. Then, the HR department must convey all the possible safety guidelines. Safety protocols like social distancing, mandating masks and other safety gears with proper disposal measures must be drafted and implemented at the earliest. The HR must also make sure that the recovered employee is entirely comfortable with taking up new projects. However, if an employee claims that he/she can’t rejoin physically due to weakness but wishes to work from home, they must be given complete support.

Admin must Disperse Stringent Workplace Safety Protocols

While the HR looks into more in-depth matters of employee engagement, the organisation’s administration department must ensure that the technical nitty-gritty of welcoming the employees are in place. The administration department must disperse stringent workplace safety protocols, in addition to what the HR department has formulated.

They must undertake professional measures like thermal scanning and placement of sanitisers at the entrance points. They must also appoint professional facility managers who are trained to maintain top-level hygiene in current situations. We can claim this because we at Unify leave no stones unturned when training our workers for our client’s safety. They can effectively keep a thorough check on your facility. Admins must provide them with additional briefings so they deliver organised services, especially for the employee who has just recovered from the virus.

Co-workers must be Empathetic (from a Distance)

When an employee is back to work after COVID, it is natural for co-workers to be hesitant about being in close contact with that employee. However, such negative attitude can hamper the recovered employee’s productivity and mental health. When practising social distancing, co-workers must make sure that they practice it equally and not just with the recovered employee. It is essential to be empathetic towards the recovered employee without making them feel excluded.

Management must Assure 24/7 Healthcare Availability

It has been proven that a fully recovered COVID patient can still suffer breathlessness and fatigue. These symptoms do not imply that the person is still infected. These symptoms are often meagre side-effects of the recovery, as said by the American Medical Association. The management must ensure that 24/7 healthcare facility is made available to the employees. This saves the HR and the Admin from the hassle of rushing for a healthcare professional when the recovered employee feels any uneasiness. At the same time, it is also a relief to the employee.

The management must also be aware of the flexibility of the employee, considering that they have just recovered. In other words, these recovered employees mustn’t be forced to take up big projects as soon as they re-enter the workforce.

Welcoming a COVID recovered employee back to work is one of the many challenges that businesses are facing. We at Unify did not want any of the organisations to suffer because of the aftermath of the virus. This is why we created a small plan for organisations to implement when welcoming and co-operating with COVID recovered employees when they get back to work. So, don’t hesitate and welcome them in full force with additional measures.