7 Practical Steps to Hire the Best Boomerang Employees

7 Practical Steps to Hire the Best Boomerang Employees
Submitted by: Yen Tran

The world labor market has seen an increasing trend of rehiring
boomerang employees (who left the company before then come back)
in the recent years. Job seekers have to compete more
drastically not only with new candidates but also former
employees. How should employers handle boomerang employees in a
sensible, reasonable, rational manner? This article will give
you the general picture of boomerang employees in the labor
market and suggest 7 practical steps to hire the best ones.

Why boomerang employees return?

Employees often leave for several reasons, and then they come
back because they realize that the grass is not always greener
on the other side. Even they got better benefits or titles as
they had wished, they might face different issues at new
workplaces. Some boomerang employees could not fit the new
corporate culture and environment, some were not recognized as
in previous company and others just miss their former colleagues
and managers.

Employer’s attitude toward hiring boomerang employees

A new survey of more than 1,800 HR professionals, managers and
employees by Workplace Trends and Workforce Institute at Kronos
indicated that firms are increasingly opening the door to
welcome alumni. According to the results, 76% said that they are
more accepting of rehiring former employees today than 5 years
ago. Nearly two-thirds of managers had the same attitude toward
alumni.

Benefits of hiring boomerang employees

Rehiring former employees can help company reduce cost on
recruiting and on-boarding process. Boomerang employees have
clearly understood the working system, the company culture and
environment. Furthermore, new knowledge, ideas and skills are
brought back into your company as a result of the period they
work for other businesses. Besides, boomerang employees usually
return with more loyalty and commitment to the company.

Of course, there also remain drawbacks when you hire boomerang
employees. A wrong hiring decision can be paid by a lot of
money, efforts and even other talents.

Full process that you need to follow to ensure a successful
rehiring decision

1. Exit interview

Sometimes we can’t keep talent stay but we can take some actions
to get them back when possible. When your employees ask for
resignation, be sure that you conduct an exit interview with
them to figure out the reasons they want to quit and what your
company can improve.

2. Post-exit program

Former employees can be a potential talent pool. To attract top
talent back to your company, keeping contacts with them is a
must. You can follow them on LinkedIn, invite them to your
company talent group to make sure that they can hear when your
company offer new positions. You should ask them about their new
situation at new companies as a way to show your care.

3. Rehire policy

Company should set a formal written rehire policy with clear
rules, conditions, and procedures. This policy can save a lot of
money, time and effort for HR department as well as raise
awareness of current employees.

4. Screening boomerang employees

Obviously you should follow your company’s rehire policy to
shortlist former candidates. Some following factors are often
taken into account: reasons they left your company (revisiting
their exit interviews), reasons they left new companies
(checking their references), and leaving period. Long period
away (more than 3 years) could change both boomerang employees
and company situation a lot, thus you have to assess them more
thoroughly. Employers should never consider boomerang employees
who had low performance or bad behavior in the past. Your target
should be top performers who left with accepted reasons, and
long term employees who failed to pursue their passions.

5. Asking your current team

Despite how excellent the boomerang employee is, other members
of your team, particularly former colleagues of the former
employee, may not welcome them. Maybe some of them had personal
conflicts in the past, or former colleagues may feel terrible
when boomerang employee come back at a higher level. Make sure
that you got an agreement of the whole team before making a
rehiring decision.

6. On-boarding process

We often consider familiarity as a favor of boomerang employees
and treat them like current employees. According to the survey
result, only 9% of managers gave no preference to former ones.
But several things might not remain the same since the day they
left. If you rehire a boomerang employee who just left for a few
months then returned to the same position and same team, an
on-boarding process is unnecessary. However, for those who had a
long period away or rejoins in a different role or a different
team, no special treatment should you give to them. You should
consider boomerang employees as other new hires. New training
and probation period are needed in these cases.

7. Progress tracking

Returning employees might feel uncomfortable when come back to
old company as they have to adapt to new changes in the company.
By tracking them regularly, you can identify their problems to
help them integrate more quickly into the firm. Monitoring
progress is also an effective way to boost their productivity as
well.



About the Author: I'm a experienced HR professional working at
Vietnam Manpower JSC, the leading recruitment agency in Vietnam.
 Visit our blog of HR management and career advice at
http://vnmanpower.com/en/blog.html

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