Help please I’ve injured my plant!

[Authenticcelestialmusic]

Hi I posted this on chat but it was suggested here was a better place, so I am reposting. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have a schefflera arboricola which I left in sunlight for a few days last week. It’s looking rather unwell. There are approx 7 stems with okay/healthy looking leaves on and about 10 stems with brown crispy leaves on.

I read online that you shouldn’t cut more than 20% off at once. I have thoroughly watered it on my return and it is stood in about an inch of water for the last 24 hours.

Any advice on reviving it would be appreciated.

A photo might help.
If the leaves are brown and crispy, they won't recover and will (i think) get shed at some point anyway. So I'd have thought it would be better to relieve the plant of them ASAP.

It sounds like the compost should be rehydrated now (check the pot feels heavy) so I'd take it out of the water, drowning it won't help. Misting the leaves wouldnt go amiss, I guess.
I assume you've put it somewhere shadier now? I think just make sure it doesn't get dried out and hope for the best.

The pruning advice refers to not cutting off more than 20% of live foliage, OP. Cutting dead leaves or stems is fine, and reduces the risk of them rotting and allowing disease into the plant.
As long as there are some healthy bits left, it should recover. I’ve bought half dead plants reduced to giveaway prices in garden centres and successfully resuscitated them!

Don't leave it standing in water any longer - plants' roots need air as well as water.