Keeping in Touch

There was an employee who went out on disability some time ago and was helped by the HR department in setting up his details with the outsourced ASO. Well, this person has been out for almost 8 months and since his leave he has never heard from his HR department unless he called them.

The sad point of this example is that when employees go out on leave they become disconnected from their organization. To help them cope with this new situation it is critical that the HR practitioners keep in contact periodically with these employees to help them say "connected". It is part of HR's responsibilities and helps the stigma of disconnection. The key take-a-way is that even though employees may not be at a facility they are still customers.

HR sometimes gets a bad rap. Your comments are appreciated, please send them to wgstevens2@gmail.com and they will be posted.


From a friend who has had an experience:
Hi Bill, I found this posting particularly relevant as this coming August will be one year since I had to go on disability due to health issues. Not only was my health situation totally unexpected, now, nearly one full year later, I find myself still having to adjust to new routines and perhaps, more importantly, the absence of older, familiar and habitual patterns. To say that my ordeal has been a complete shock to my system is putting it mildly. Personally, I would have deeply appreciated some (Any) form of proactive HR contact from my Company. Even though I was a "top performer" during my tenure with my organization, one can only rest on their laurels for so long without becoming somewhat fearful of their having a place in the future. Certainly, I would really have loved it--on both a "human" (i.e. "we care about you") level, as well as on a professional one. For myself, as well as for any others who may find themselves experiencing what I have, in the future, I sincerely hope that some HR Reps will take what you have said here to heart, and at least make attempts to contact those empolyees who, through no "fault" of their own, find themselves in this weird and highly uncomfortable limbo land.