Around our house, nothing signals the end of summer more than helping our kids prepare for their return to the daily school routine. The arrival of the end of summer also means that companies are now returning to full strength with most of their employees having finished their vacation time away from work.

While taking a vacation break can provide us with the benefit of recharging ourselves and allowing us to clear our focus, there can be some feelings of ambivalence surrounding those first few days back on the job over what we may find awaiting us upon our return. This is especially true for employees who return to work after a prolonged absence from taking a maternity, paternity or sick leave.

Of course, returning to work after a prolonged absence can provide its own share of challenges to employees, issues which may not be obvious to the organization’s leadership or their fellow team members. Indeed, unlike employees returning from a holiday break, these employees have to contend with concerns over unexpected additions to their workloads or changes made to their role within the organization while they were away. Such issues can have a dramatic impact not only on their productivity, but also on their ability to ease back into their role as a member of your team.

With this in mind, here are three steps leaders can take to help their employees with the transition of returning back to work after a prolonged break. Click here to continue reading »”Helping Employees Regain Their Productivity After A Prolonged Absence”

Over the last two months, my oldest daughter and I have been visiting some of the nearby high schools during their open house events. Although she won’t be going to high school next September, my wife and I felt it would be helpful for her to get a better understanding of what high school is like, in preparation for that inevitable transition. I’ve had many parents caution me about how dramatically things will change when our kids start going to high school; of how they’ll no longer be those carefree little kids we fondly remember from those early years of being a parent.

As I’ve never given this much thought, I was curious about how I’d react to seeing my daughter walking around those hallways and classrooms, knowing that she’d be doing that again in just a few years as a student at this school. Despite all the warnings from other parents, I didn’t feel apprehension or wariness as we toured the various high schools in our area.  Instead, I found Click here to continue reading »”Helping Others Embrace Change”