While companies were previously hesitant to re-hire talent that had left an organization, many leaders increasingly recognize the significant benefits of ‘boomerang workers’. These re-hired employees bring a unique set of knowledge and experience from their previous tenure coupled with new skills and perspectives from their experience outside the company.
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In today’s competitive labor market, returning employees can be invaluable hires, say experts GETTY
Sharon Witzrabin, VP of HR at Skai, an advertising technology company, says, “In the past three years we have had 14 employees that have left us and returned, which make up an incredible 6% of our hires during this timeframe.” He continues, “We’ve had people returning to us from the largest and most successful companies in the world, but also smaller startups and other mid-sized businesses.
Some returned after only a few months, and some after a few years, with the main reason for returning being the employee experience.” Witzrabin consequently believes returning employees felt like the culture of working at Skai was something they could never replicate at other workplaces. The quality of the people, integrity, passion and care from the company are appreciated. “Once you find a place with a culture that fits you, it is a very difficult thing to let go of it or to find elsewhere,” he concludes.
A key benefit to hiring boomerang employees is rapid onboarding. Because these individuals have worked at the company before, there are fewer knowledge gaps to fill. Boomerang employees know – at least to some extent – the systems and tools a company uses, the key stakeholders, and the goals of the company. Making onboarding faster is critical, especially now when many companies have various open roles to fill.
It is important to note that engagement and having social connections within an organization is critical, and with a boomerang worker, those have likely already been established. Especially when remote working, it’s been extremely challenging for employees – especially new joiners – to connect and bond with their colleagues. A returning employee often has their tight-knit community already in place, or at minimum an existing community, making it easier for them to reassimilate socially.
Margo Kahnrose, the CMO of Skai, and herself a boomerang worker, comments, “leaving a company gives you better clarity and more perspective on your experience there than you can get while you’re actually on the job day-to-day.” She consequently believes her decision to return was because she appreciated the company’s values-centric culture, visionary leadership, and inherent diversity anew. Moreover, it was an environment Kahnrose was eager to return to from a personal values standpoint. She adds, “The cherry on top was that company was (and still is) on an exciting trajectory, having made an early bet on the new high-growth marketing channel of retail media while reaching profitability from the baseline business, and making forays into data intelligence I found incredibly interesting.”
When asked to consider what is keeping her at Skai now, Kahnrose explained that the company toes a delicate balance between startup culture—and all of its implied ways of working—and established, stable, reputable business that serves thousands of major brands. That means the best of both worlds for ambitious employees because there is little red tape or bureaucracy, loads of energy to move quickly and innovate, and paycheck security and core values that create unity and guide decisions.
“My growth path in the company, from website manager to brand director to CMO is testament to the executive mentors who have invested in me, that good work goes rewarded and potential gets recognized at Skai.” Kahnrose adds, “It’s a bonus that Skai is the most globally and culturally diverse organization I’ve been part of and one that values women in leadership.” She continues, “It’s a place where the work is continuously interesting and where empathy and humanity guide the hard decisions. I’ve gotten to a point in my career where that’s the only real calculus that matters.”
There is no single explanation for the phenomenon of boomerang employees. People leave and return for various reasons: it may be due to pandemic layoffs and furloughs, major life events, or to progress in their careers. But we see that both employees and HR departments are more open to returning/accepting old employees than in the past.
The key to attracting your old employees is their exit experience, according to Christina Gialleli, director of people operations at Epignosis, a leading software house in learning tech. She believes in conducting a successful exit interview, having an honest discussion, showing appreciation for their time with your company, showing that you want to keep in touch and that your door is always open for them. Conducting a thorough exit interview also ensures that you have captured the “eligibility” for re-hiring; for example, someone who profoundly clashes with the company’s work will not work out if they rejoin.
We all approach our professions differently as our careers progress and grow as people. When we look back at past experiences, many of us wish we’d handled a challenge differently, developed a relationship further, or made a personal connection that we never got around to. Being a boomerang gives you the rare opportunity to approach a familiar environment with new perspectives, new skills and experience acquired during any amount of time away, and added confidence. “I can’t think of a richer or more formative professional experience than that,” comments Kahnrose.
Practically speaking, returning to a former team allows you to skip many of the discomforts of onboarding to an entirely new company and get right to work, often seeing things more clearly than the first time around. It’s a chance to leave behind the noise that accumulates over time, assess and test your personal and professional growth, appreciate your evolution and bring all of that advancement to help a company to which you’re already deeply connected win in its next chapter.