Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Rebuilding After Mass Furloughs, Michelle Price

Upstate New York Science Librarians Conference

During the summer of 2020, due to COVID-19 and preventative financial measures taken by the college, 70% of the library staff at St. John Fisher College were furloughed for approximately three months. This presentation is from the viewpoint of an employee who was furloughed and returned during wave one. What did the process of rebuilding look like? What words did we even use to describe what was happening?

Employees who were furloughed returned at three different time points, creating three waves. The library developed an on-boarding process to address policy and protocol changes and revised it to address emotional issues. …