A particularly strong employee has resigned – such a decision often hits companies hard. After all, the position must be filled again with someone equally capable. And this process costs time and money. The War for Talents does not make the search any easier. Rehiring, also known as Boomerang Hiring, is therefore becoming increasingly important. Rehiring former team members has several advantages.
Welcome back: why rehiring makes sense
- Former employees know your company very well. Internal processes and workflows are familiar to them – therefore, hardly any onboarding time is needed when you rehire former employees.
- The recruiting effort and onboarding process are very manageable. This saves you time and money, while allowing you to benefit from rapidly increasing productivity.
- Younger people who have not yet gained many years of professional experience often take certain benefits for granted and may not sufficiently appreciate many employer offerings, since they lack comparison.
- Returning employees bring new skills and insights with them and inject fresh energy into the company.
- Take the opportunity to further strengthen your role as an employer: engage in transparent, trustful dialogue to eliminate the issues that once led to the resignation. Perhaps this results in special employee benefits that the talent previously lacked.
- A returning talent highlights your employer attractiveness – and may dissuade others who are considering resignation from leaving.
How to make rehiring a success
To ensure rehiring succeeds unconditionally and risks are minimized, you should apply or strengthen specific measures. First and foremost, a respectful offboarding process. Discuss concrete reasons for the resignation together and remain open to suggestions for improvement. There is no room for blame here! This creates a positive foundation for a potential return. After the departure, stay in touch with former employees through an alumni program. This way, you can keep former staff informed about what is happening in your company and lay the groundwork for a potential return. Build an open, transparent line of communication with former employees. Explore whether there were aspects that caused problems in the past and work on solutions. Additionally, you should include former employees in your talent pool to maintain an overview of their profiles and qualifications. This facilitates recruitment if the opportunity for rehiring arises. By the way, with our e-recruiting software, this is easy and clear. Request our live demo today!
No reunion? When caution is advised with rehiring
Even though Boomerang Hiring is proving to be an increasingly successful recruiting strategy, rehiring is not always advisable. For example, if there were already serious conflicts or tensions within the team before the resignation that led to an irreparable loss of trust, rehiring may be problematic. It is also important that the reasons the talent left your company no longer exist and that both parties have developed further. If neither the company nor the former employee is willing to learn from past mistakes and make necessary adjustments, rehiring is unlikely to be successful. If there is no cultural fit between the former employee and the company, or if it is still lacking, this can lead to further issues. In such cases, it is important to carefully assess whether rehiring is truly in the best interest of both the company and the former employee. The decision should be well considered and based on a realistic evaluation of the changed circumstances. If you take all this into account, a second chance often leads to success and becomes a win-win situation for both sides.