Return & Reunion
Reunion and Work
Introduction
Like other areas of your life, your work environment may be somewhat different when you return. You may be worried about changes that have taken place and how you will fit back into the overall scheme of things. Someone else has assumed your role, or at least covered for you, during your absence. If you hold a supervisory position, decisions have been made by whoever filled your role that you will now have to accept. You will also experience a change of pace and activity in your working environment. That is, you will be required to shift from your deployment schedule and activities back into your normal working routine.
Managing the Change
If you apply the same ideas we have discussed throughout this booklet to your work situation, your readjustment should go relatively smoothly. Once again, focus on taking things easy. Specifically, talk with colleagues and supervisors to learn of the changes that have taken place during your absence and the rationale behind those changes. Just as you were encouraged not to question your spouse's judgement in the decisions they reached, do not be overly critical of your colleagues and your supervisory chain. Just as in the situation within your family environment, you were not there at the time, and you do not know everything that went into the decision-making process. In any event, what can you realistically do other than accept decisions that have been made during your absence and move on? You can not change the past.
Resentment
In addition to coming to terms with decisions that have been made in your work environment, be prepared for the possibility that some colleagues may harbour a degree of resentment. Why? The reason could be that from their perspective, they have taken on an arduous workload because of your absence. Now that you have been away for several weeks or months, perhaps you are going to take at least a couple of weeks off work just when they want you to come back and start 'pulling your weight' again! From your perspective it makes perfect sense that you are entitled to some time off. You have worked long hours under difficult conditions, including weekends and holidays. You have endured the challenges associated with functioning in a deployed environment, and you have been away from your family and friends. The issue here is not whose perception is 'right' or whose perception is 'wrong'; the issue is simply that you need to be prepared for the possibility that you may encounter some resentment when you return to work.
Dealing with Resentment
If you encounter resentment, how will you deal with it? One response, and a very tempting one, would be to 'give them a piece of your mind' about how unfair they are being. This might temporarily relieve your hurt and anger as you 'set them straight'. However, the impact on your audience would probably be an increase in resentment. Remember that your colleagues perception and experience of your deployment is very different to yours. At any rate, a more helpful response could be something like: 'You're entitled to your point of view. If I were in your position, I might see it that way too. I appreciate the work you did to cover for those of those of us who were deployed. I'm glad to get back into a familiar daily work routine and to be able to have dinner with my family each night and sleep in my own bed again'.'
War Stories
There is another potential source of colleague resentment, or at least irritation, that you would be wise to avoid. Specifically, you may be tempted to entertain your colleagues with deployment war stories. To a point, your colleagues may be interested to hear about your experiences, especially if they ask. Once they have reached their 'saturation point', however, and that point will be different for each person, it is time to change the conversation to another topic. Make sure you are just as interested in hearing about the things they have been up to during your deployment.
Making the Transition
Even though there is a limit to how much your colleagues will want to hear about your deployment experiences, you will no doubt want to reflect on your experiences for a while. When you are sitting in your section perhaps feeling a little 'underwhelmed' as you look back on the 'good old days', remember your deployment was another time and place, and you need to live in the 'here and now'. Your challenge, in short, is to size up the post deployment work environment and develop a way to make a smooth transition back into your normal working environment.
Staff Turnover
Finally, another work environment challenge you may encounter when you return to your section is staff turnover. As you know, during any period of several weeks or months, personnel in a RAF unit will be posted away and others will arrive. In terms of the newcomers, you and they are an 'unknown quantity' to each other. For this reason, you will need to establish your credibility with them, and they with you. This is especially true if you are in a supervisory role. Also, you will need to learn to work together effectively as a new team.
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