Welcome to Edition #21 of Ask Gorick Anything. This AMA is part of Gorick's Newsletter, where Harvard career advisor and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Gorick Ng shares what they don't teach you in school about how to succeed in your career.
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ASK GORICK ANYTHING
“How do I go back to work after a leave?”
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Subscriber’s question:
“This week's newsletter was about returning to work after a career break. But what about returning to work following a leave (medical, personal, mat/pat, etc). How do you reintegrate with the team and your projects?”
— Anonymous from Chicago, IL
Gorick's response:
Hi “Anonymous”,
Great question!
I’ve found it useful to break down a leave of absence into 4 main stages: before the leave, during the leave, before the return, and after the return. I’m including all below for those who are interested, though #3 and #4 may be most relevant to you, so feel free to skip down.
- Before you leave
- During your leave
- Before you return
- When you’re back
1. Before you leave
What you can do: Speak to your coworkers. Go to your sponsors, mentors, and allies, share your plans with them, and share how excited you are about whatever they’re working on (and how bummed you are to not be around to support them).
Your goal: To leave coworkers, sponsors, mentors, and allies thinking, Wow, you had the courtesy to keep me in mind? I like you—and I’d love to work with you again. A positive encounter that shows a little bit of effort can go a long way in helping you maintain your reputation.
2. During your leave
What you can do: Stay in touch with your most trusted colleagues and stay on top of the news.*
- When it comes to your coworkers, feel free to share the occasional update with them. Or, if they have any big news to share, send them a note like “I saw [your big project announcement on LinkedIn]. Congratulations!” (Tap here for Mariah Carey inspired scripts to help you stay in touch.)
- When it comes to the news, consider taking at least a few minutes each week to skim those newsletters and whitepapers, read those headlines, lurk in those forums, watch those YouTube videos, and listen to those podcasts.
Your goal: To keep the professional relationships you’ve worked so hard to build alive and to have a general idea of what’s going on in your company, your industry, and the world.
*Whether you’re taking leave for yourself or for someone else, the last thing you want to do is think about work. I get it! But most people will entirely tune out—and the world moves on without them, leaving them blindsided and behind when they eventually return. So, if you have the time and interest, a few minutes every week to check in can be useful!
3. Before you return
What you can do: Reconnect with those sponsors, mentors, and allies! A simple note that ends with “I’d love to hear how things have been going over the last few months” is typically all you’ll need to get the conversation started.
Your goal: To get up to date on all that’s happened since you’ve been gone and to get a heads up on what you can expect when you’re back (AKA to hear all the gossip you’ve missed).
4. When you’re back
What you can do:
- To reintegrate with your team, reach out to your colleagues (new and old) and ask what they’re working on and how you can support them.
- To reintegrate with your projects, go to the colleagues who’ve been covering for you while you’ve been gone, thank them, and ask how you can be most helpful now that you’re back.
- To reintegrate with leadership, meet with your manager and ask about what you’ve missed and what their goals are over the next quarter—and show an interest in helping them achieve those goals.
Your goal: To re-establish your competence, commitment, and compatibility with everyone who may have forgotten about you—and to start the relationship off on the right foot with all the new faces.
I know this sounds like a lot of extra work—it is! But by keeping relationships alive and staying in the loop, you’ll hopefully avoid any surprises, such as learning (too late) that…
- All the people you got along with are no longer around
- There are all of these new faces (and politics) on your team
- Your company or industry has gone in a different direction
- Your team has been restructured
- Your position has been eliminated entirely
If you’re thinking to yourself, “Wait, what? I thought that I’m legally protected when I take medical or parental leave,” you’re right—but there is some fine print to be aware of!*
For example, the U.S.’s Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) states that employees “may not be punished for using FMLA leave.” It goes on to specify that “an employee must be able to return to the same job” or an “equivalent job.” However, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, employers can cut your job if they do layoffs while you’re away (as long as they can prove the job would have been cut or the employee laid off without any regard to the leave).
*I’m not a lawyer and this is not legal advice, so if you feel like you’ve been wronged, talk to a lawyer who specializes in labor and employment!
Last thing: if you’re a manager, consider forwarding this essay (or passing along this direct link) to someone you’re mentoring and include how you’d tackle the situation as food for thought. While you may find what’s written here obvious, your mentees or direct reports may not.
Hope you found this helpful!
See you Tuesday for our next story and unspoken rule,
Gorick
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