Managing Employee Reactivations

⚡ What Is Employee Reactivation?

Employee Reactivation is the process of updating an employee's status from deactivated to active again. It marks the difference between someone who was either terminated or temporarily away and someone who is once again part of day-to-day operations

In the system:

• Deactivated employees are removed from scheduling and payroll, don't take up a paid seat, and have limited access to team-facing features, but they can still log in to view personal records such as past pay stubs.
• Active employees are included in scheduling and payroll, take up a paid seat, and have full access to team-facing features like messaging and shift swapping.

Reactivation always moves an employee back to the Active Employee List, whether they're coming from:

• Termination: used when the employee wasn't originally expected to return; their profile currently sits on the Inactive Employee List.
• Temporary Leave: used when the employee is expected to return; their profile currently sits on the On Leave Employee List.

🔎 Why Use Employee Reactivation?

• One continuous employment record: Reactivating keeps a single, clean profile for the employee's entire employment history. No need to create a duplicate profile from scratch, which saves time and keeps your records tidy.
• Flexible re-onboarding: Supports a wide range of return-to-work situations. Have returning employees redo onboarding to update their information or resubmit forms, or skip straight to Active status using what's already on file. 
• Flexible Position handling: Bring them back with no Position, their last current Position, or a new one, whatever matches the role they're returning to. 
• Bulk reactivation: Bring back a group of returning employees at once who share the same rehire date, instead of repeating the process for each employee.

🔐 Access required

Employee Reactivation is available on all subscription plans.

Who can reactivate employees?

• Super Administrators: Full access to reactivate both On Leave and Inactive employees, individually or in bulk.
• Team Administrators: Can reactivate employees if they have the Update Employee Information and View Employee List permission enabled for the relevant Employee Groups.  If you are unable to access, please confirm your permissions with a Super Administrator.

📋 Topics covered in this article:

• Starting the Employee Reactivation Process (Single or Bulk)
• Completing the Employee Reactivation Process
• What Happens After Reactivating
• Frequently Asked Questions About Employee Reactivation

📚 Related articles:

• Managing Employee Deactivations
• How To Update An Employee's Salary Information
• How To Activate A Pending Employee Profile

Starting the Employee Reactivation Process

Before you begin, you'll need to decide whether you're reactivating one employee or a group of employees returning under the same circumstances. This determines how you'll start the process, but the steps that follow will be the same.

• Use single reactivation when reactivating one employee at a time, or when employees are returning with different rehire dates or position needs, as each profile must be handled individually.
• Use bulk reactivation when reactivating a group of employees who share the same rehire date and are either all returning to their last current role or all skipping Position assignment entirely. If you want to assign a new Position instead, bulk reactivation only works if every employee in the group is being assigned the same new Position; otherwise, use single reactivation.

How to Reactivate a Single Employee

This method walks you through reactivating one employee at a time — ideal when you need to manage profiles individually.

1. Click the Employees tab.
2. In the left-hand navigation, select either the Inactive Employee List or the On Leave Employee List.
3. Use the Search bar to find the employee by name or navigate the list.
4. In the Edit column, click the Circle Arrow icon (hovering over it will display Reactivate Employee).
5. In the confirmation pop-up titled Activate Employee, click Activate to proceed with reactivation, or click Cancel to exit.
6. Navigate to the Completing the Employee Reactivation Process section in this article to continue!

How to Bulk Reactivate Employees

This method allows you to reactivate a group of employees at once when they're returning under the same circumstances, for example, a group finishing the same seasonal leave.

⚠️ | Warning: All employees selected in a bulk reactivation will be updated using the same rehire date and Position handling. Ensure this applies to everyone selected — otherwise, use single reactivation instead.

1. Click the Employees tab.
2. In the left-hand navigation, select the appropriate Employee List: On Leave or Inactive.
3. Above the list of employees, click Bulk Activate Employees.
4. Navigate to the Completing the Employee Reactivation Process section in this article to continue!

Completing the Employee Reactivation Process

Once you've selected the employee (or group of employees), the next step is to set their rehire date, decide how to handle their Position, and choose whether they'll go through onboarding again.

1. The page will load to the Activate Employees page. Fill in the following:
   1. Under Select Employees, click the box and select the employee(s) to be reactivated. If completing a single reactivation, this section automatically pre-fills the employee. 
   2. Under Rehire Date (for all), enter the date the employee(s) is returning, or use the calendar picker to select it.
   3. Under Positions, click the radio button that matches how you want to bring them back:
      1. Skip: select this if you don't want to assign an active Position to the employee. You can always update their profile at a later date. 
         📌 | Note: Leaving the Position blank can affect shift assignments in the scheduler, clocking in/out access, and payroll. Continue to step 5.
      2. Reactivate Hourly Employees' Last Current Position(s):  select this if the employee is returning to the same role.
         📌 | Note: Selecting this reveals the Onboarding step below. Continue to step 4.
      3. Select New Position(s): select this if you want to assign the employee a new Position. Click the box under New Positions and choose from the drop-down menu.
         📌 | Note: Selecting this reveals the Onboarding step below. Continue to step 4.
         ⚠️ | Warning: If you're bulk reactivating a group, you can only choose one New Position for the whole group. Everyone selected will be assigned that same Position. If the group needs different Positions, reactivate them individually instead or use the last current position and update the profiles afterward.
   4. Under Onboarding, click the radio button to decide whether the employee will be put back into onboarding:
      📌 | Note: This step doesn't appear if you opted to skip assigning a Position. See step 3 or skip to step 5. 
      1. Redo Onboarding: the employee's profile moves to the Pending Employee List, and the employee will receive an email invitation to complete onboarding. Personal information (e.g. Emergency Contact Information, SIN, Address, etc.) is pre-filled, so the employee only needs to update what's required.
         💡 | Tip: This is a good option when you want the employee to review that everything is still accurate, and complete new Tax Forms or review Company Policies.
      2. Skip: the employee moves straight to the Active Employee List using their existing profile information. Users can go in and update any information from
         📌 | Note: We recommend reviewing the employee's profile details to ensure everything is still accurate before they start working.
         💡 | Tip: This is a good option for employees returning after a short absence, where their existing information is still likely accurate.
   5. Once ready, click Activate Employees.
   6. The page will refresh and state X employee(s) activated (e.g., 2 employee(s) activated)!

What Happens After Reactivating

After you click Activate Employees, what happens depends on which Onboarding option you selected:

• Redo Onboarding: the employee moves to the Pending Employee List and must complete onboarding before they're fully Active again. Once they've finished, you'll need to activate their profile. See Activating Pending Employees After Completing Digital Onboarding for those steps.
• Skip: the employee moves straight to the Active Employee List. Make sure to review their profile before they start working. Even if their Position was reactivated or reassigned, other details like Salary may still need updating, so they can clock in, be scheduled, and be paid correctly without you having to go back and fix things after the fact.

Frequently Asked Questions About Employee Reactivation

Have questions about bringing an employee back to Active status? Whether you're wondering about seats, payroll history, or reactivating a group at once, this section provides quick answers to help you manage Employee Reactivation with confidence.

Q: Will reactivating an employee use up a subscription seat again? 
A: Yes. Only Active and Pending employees count as seats in your subscription. Once you reactivate someone, they count toward a seat again, just as they didn't count when they were deactivated. See What's the  Difference Between an Employee and a Seat? for more information.

Q: Will reactivating restore my employee's old payroll history and schedules? 
A: Yes. Deactivation does not delete a profile, so payroll history, past schedules, personal information, and more remain intact and are restored when the employee is reactivated. 

Employees or Admins will still be able to update the information as needed, whether during re-onboarding or after the fact. 

Q: What happens when I reactivate a salaried employee? 
A: Only Hourly Positions can be reactivated directly during this process. For Salaried employees, you'll need to go to their Employee Profile afterward and manually edit their Position and Salary to make them active.

Q: Should I choose Redo Onboarding or Skip? 
A: This depends on how current the employee's information is. Choose Redo Onboarding if you want them to confirm or update details like banking information, tax information, or signatures on new policies. Choose Skip if their existing information and forms are still accurate.

Q: I need to bring back more than one employee — what's the fastest way? 
A: Use Bulk Reactivating Employees rather than reactivating each one individually, as long as the group shares the same rehire date, and either everyone is being assigned the same new Position, or you're okay with everyone keeping their own existing (last current) Position.

Q: Can I reactivate someone and then deactivate them again later? 
A: Yes, there's no limit on how often a profile can be reactivated or deactivated. Each change affects the employee's employment timeline, including fields such as the Hire Date, Rehire Date, and Termination Date. You can adjust these in the profile if needed.

Q: I can't find my employee to reactivate in the list — why is that? 
A: A few things to check: make sure you're looking on the right list (they could be under either On Leave or Inactive), and that your search matches their name exactly. 

If you've checked both lists and still can't find them, their profile may have been deleted instead of deactivated. There's a trash can icon under the Edit column on the Inactive/On Leave list that permanently deletes a profile, unlike deactivating it.

Q: I accidentally deleted an employee instead of deactivating them — is there a way to get them back without re-entering all their information?
A: Yes. Deleting a profile is intended only for employees who never actually worked or were paid. For example, someone who signed an offer letter or completed digital onboarding but never showed up and you wish to remove their record entirely.  It's not recommended for anyone who has worked or been paid. 

If this happened by mistake, please complete the following:

• Email: support@pushoperations.com
• Subject line: Reinstate Deleted Employee Profile
• Include: Company name, the first and last name of the employee, and the email associated with the profile, if applicable. 

Once we receive it, our Support Team will review your account and reinstate your existing profile, so you won't need to recreate it from scratch.

Additional Information

Need further help? Refer to our Getting Help & Contacting Support article for the latest support options and ways to connect with our team.