What Are Boomerang Employees and Should You Rehire Them?

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They worked for you before and now they want to come back. Does it make sense to hire a "boomerang" employee? Weigh the pros and cons and keep these additional tips in mind.

What Is a Boomerang Employee?

The definition of a boomerang employee is just as the name implies: a person who leaves their job for a period of time, then seeks to return. Reasons for leaving may be personal, professional, or a combination of both.

Understanding why an employee feels compelled to quit can help employers with targeted and preventative employee retention efforts. Helping to ensure that an employee doesn't want to leave in the first place can strengthen loyalty, improve corporate culture, and save you time and money.

Boomerang Employee Benefits: Reasons To Rehire

There are several reasons why it might make sense to rehire an employee:

• Recruiting and hiring can be a costly process
• A former employee already has a working knowledge of the business, customer base, and what is expected of them in their role.
• A boomerang employee can bring a double benefit of someone who understands the culture of your organization and can bring a fresh perspective of the experiences gained while they were away.
• If you want proof that your business is a meaningful place to work, a rehired employee may demonstrate that you offer an attractive package compared to the competition.

Reasons Not To Rehire an Employee

There can be some risks to rehiring an employee:

• If your business has changed a great deal since the former employee worked for you, they may not understand the new environment or culture.
• A former employee may no longer be as qualified for the position as they once were. This can also be true if the industry has changed dramatically, and their former position has few transferable skills that are applicable in their new role.
• You may envision a worker who is instantly ready to reprise their former productivity, but there may be more training necessary to get your rehired employee acclimated to new procedures and regulations.
• If there were work performance issues, it's critical that you address them early, which can create an uncomfortable situation early on.

Consider What’s Right for Your Business When Hiring Boomerang Employees

According to Paychex client HR business partner Rushell Greaves, boomerang employees are becoming more common in today's workplace. As an employer, here are a few key points to consider when hiring a former employee:

• Rehires often require very little or no training to help get them up to par and could be able to hit the ground running. This perspective is very attractive for employers because fewer training hours are dedicated to the new hire and there could be a shorter learning curve.
• The boomerang employee could have established contacts or networks internally and/or externally that could be of value to the organization.
• Consider the reason for the former employee exiting the organization originally. Was it an amicable exit? Is the individual eligible for rehire?
• Why are they returning? Does the organization value loyalty? Is this employee trying to fill a gap in their career? Do their professional goals coincide with that of the organization?
• Consider performance history and length of time away from the organization.
• Has the individual acquired new skills, education, and additional assets that could be of value to the organization?
• How is the individual going to manage their behavior upon returning to the organization? Are they going to have an attitude of entitlement or lax work ethic? How could current employees react?
• Now that the individual is trying to return to the organization, is there a cultural fit? What contributions did this individual make to the cultural awareness of the organization prior to the departure, and were they positive? Are they a good fit now?

With 50 years of experience and front-edge HR technology, Paychex Hiring Services can support you throughout the hiring process so you can feel confident with your candidate, whether they are new or newly rehired.