A Boomerang Employee is someone who returns to work for a former employer. Hiring boomerangs brings improvements ranging from a better company culture to ROI.
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A Boomerang Employee is an employee who leaves and then returns to work for their former company.
There's a great story from British Airways that when an employee leaves, they'll say to them: “Good luck with your offsite training, we look forward to seeing you back here shortly!”
Many organizations only class full-time employees who leave and then return to the organization as a “boomerang hire” from a tracking perspective.
The ROI on hiring boomerang employees has been detailed in our recent research report The (ROI) Value Of An Alumni Program, which recognizes a number of core benefits and savings of bringing back a former employee:
One customer recognized that a 1% increase in their rehire rate of previous employees yielded $1.25m in savings and the implementation of an Alumni program was able to increase their rehire rate from 2.4% up to 8%.
The Harvard Business Review article The Promise (and Risk) of Boomerang Employees gives the following boomerang employee statistics:
Of course, in addition to the financial benefits of a boomerang hire, employees willing to return to their former company is a great reflection of a strong company culture.
Perhaps the most famous boomerang of all is Steve Jobs, rehired 12 years after being let go from Apple. While not every new employee will achieve the heights and success of Jobs, there’s no doubt that hiring a boomerang employee also brings benefits to employers and other current employees. Here are our top five:
The hiring process of bringing in new talent typically involves considerable expenses, from advertising job postings through to conducting time consuming interviews, to the onboarding and training costs. But according to an HBR article on Cultivating Ex-Employees, between the lower effort needed to recruit and train an ex-employee and their shorter ramp-up time to full productivity, companies can cut costs by up to 50% per new hire by hiring a boomerang.
Boomerang workers can skip much of the standard learning curve that new hires face. Their prior experience and existing relationships with co workers allow them to quickly re-engage with ongoing projects and deliver faster results. This swift reintegration enables the organization to capitalize on their expertise from day one.
A boomerang's experience at their previous company will often have helped them clarify their career path and understand the work environments that best suit them. With this can come a stronger alignment to the company’s values and objectives. This alignment means better job suitability, and can boost morale and long-term commitment.
Returning employees tend to have a deeper appreciation for the company’s unique strengths, which leads to greater job satisfaction. So it's no surprise that it supports employee retention: boomerang hires show a 44% higher retention rate over the first three years compared to new hires, which can boost employee morale generally, as well as supporting a positive company culture.
Former employees return with invaluable new skills or ideas from other industries. Their insights from their old job can combine with their insider knowledge to spark a powerful new perspective, enabling the organization to be more effective or anticipate industry trends.
Now that you've been convinced on the value of boomerangs, let's look at some of the most effective ways HR professionals can set up the condition for an employee's return.
The re-recruitment process starts at the exit interview: you have to understand their motivations and goals. Gather honest insights on why each person left through well-structured exit interviews. What are the common themes that you're getting in feedback? Identify these insights and use them to address root causes of departure wherever possible.
Keep workers feeling valued, and commit to maintaining relationships. Wish departing employees genuine good wishes and show appreciation for their contributions. Following this, consider how you can maintain occasional, non-intrusive communication to keep the door open for a possible return.
Many companies already invest in employer branding, emphasizing their company culture and unique value proposition. Have you considered how alumni can act as brand ambassadors? Create a dedicated alumni network to foster a sense of continued belonging even after employees move on.
Let alumni know how your employee engagement is evolving. For instance, highlight new challenges and growth paths that might not have been available when employees left. Show any improvements that were made based on their feedback, resolving potential drawbacks.
Hiring managers can use HR technology to track and segment former employees based on their skills, experience or past performance; implement targeted recruitment marketing campaigns and outreach efforts to re-engage top talent.
Design streamlined hiring processes specifically for previous employees, acknowledging their familiarity with the company. Maybe it's an easier one-click application, or an adjusted interview process. And once in, provide targeted support to help boomerang employees quickly reintegrate, setting them up for future success.
As well as higher pay, consider reasonable sign-on bonuses or other incentives to attract former high performers. Promote flexible work arrangements to demonstrate the company's commitment to work-life balance, a factor that may have led to many employees seeking a new job.
Across all the benefits to a rehired employee sits one in particular - the reduction of risk. Things may well have changed after they changed jobs, but there’s still some removal of the fear of the unknown for both managers and workers.
There’s also no doubt that the impact on your employer brand is a positive one - it can only reflect well on a company when an employee left, experienced work with other companies then makes the choice to apply back to a former company.
To learn more about boomerang employment, take a look at our article on The Guide To Boomerang Hire Success.
