a young man with a boomerang smiling isolated over a white background

Bring Them Back

As everyone knows, one of the biggest costs to an organization is the cost of turnover, or of losing current employees and hiring new ones.  But the relationship with the departing employees doesn’t need to end as soon as the leave the building.  Often, it is profitable to maintain an ongoing relationship with these individuals because they sometimes discover that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence.  These once great team members can become boomerang rehires, or employees that are rehired after a year or more.  These re-hires will require less training and are able to assume their full job functions much better than new hires.

One of biggest challenges in the past in creating or maintaining a successful rehire program was keeping track of the employees once they have left your organization, but with the creation and saturation of social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, this has now become a much easier task.

Why are Boomerang Rehires preferable?

  • An infusion of new customers – There is a reason why you are thinking of rehiring these individuals, and it’s because they were good at their job. Chances are, they were good at their other job as well, and most likely had developed a loyal customer base that would follow them back to your organization.
  • Time Tested Performance – If a company only targets top talent that has moved on, they have a good idea of the expected performance upon their return. These candidates have already proven themselves capable.
  • Higher Rate of Success – As we have already mentioned, new hires will require much more training to get up to speed than rehires, and although they might require some refresher training or training on new systems and procedures, these rehires have already proven their abilities within these walls before, and will have a much higher rate of success than those who have not.

What are the best practices for instituting a successful Boomerang Program?

 Maintain Contact on Facebook or LinkedIn – Creating an Alumni Group is a great way to simultaneously keep track of these former employees, and providing the opportunity to invite them back.  These group can also provide an Organization the ability to monitor what is going on with the previous employees in the form of “Updates.”

Create a “No Loss” Program – Some of the best organizations already have programs in place that allows a former employee to return for a specified period of time without losing any of their seniority.  This can often work to tip the scales in your organizations favor when whether or not to return is a difficult decision for the employee.

Utilize Exit Interviews – Exit interviews can be an invaluable tool for any organization to both determine why the employee was dissatisfied in the first place, as well as better enabling the powers that be to determine who they actually want back.

Boomerang employees can be just the ticket for a company in revamping their hiring program, and with the prevalence of Social Media in our everyday lives, it is a task that has become easier than ever to implement.

Be Right Back Chair

Michael Klein is a premier writer and speaker on all aspects of human capital.  As VP Operations for KDS Staffing, Inc., he has achieved industry-leading success. Michael was awarded, The New York State Small Business Growth Award; presented by Governor George Pataki.  Additionally, Michael has successfully grown and sold multiple firms.If you or your organization would like to discuss hiring needs, contact Michael at 646-350-3015 or michael@kdsstaffing.com.