Boomerang Employees, Or Fresh Hires?

A few years back, the concept of boomerang employees was a little out of the usual. Such workers were stigmatized, believing they couldn't make it outside their former employer's safe space. Even employers chose not to rehire those who had voluntarily departed. However, as employers now struggle to replace recurring shortages in their workforce, boomerang employees are finding a more accepting audience, leaders like Steve Jobs and Steve Huffman, co-founder of Reddit, have all left high-profile positions and returned to the same firm, enhancing the popularity of this approach.

Susmita Sarma: Hi everyone, I'm Susmita, your host for the show. We'll be discussing boomerang employees today. Please join me in welcoming my guest, Joel Sebastian, India HR Lead at Esper. Hi Joel, welcome to the show.

Joel Sebastian: Hey Susmita, how are you doing?

Susmita Sarma: I'm doing good, how are you?

Joel Sebastian: Good, good, thank you.

Susmita Sarma: Thank you so much for joining me in this conversation today, Joel.

Joel Sebastian: My absolute pleasure, thanks for having me.

Susmita Sarma: Before we start today's topic, would you like to tell us a bit about yourself and your journey in the corporate world?

Joel Sebastian: Absolutely. To all the listeners, my name is Joel Sebastian, and I lead the India HR function at Esper. I've been in this profession for 15 years, and it's been a great journey with a lot of learning, not always smooth sailing, plenty of successes and failures, but it's been worth the ride, and I'm really grateful for the experience. My roles have covered large Fortune 500 companies, mid-size companies, and startups, and the one thing I always keep in mind as an HR leader is that my focus is to partner with leadership to establish and improve an awesome culture and employee experience.

Susmita Sarma: Moving into today's topic, would you like to start with a short introduction to boomerang employees?

Joel Sebastian: Absolutely, it's a pretty interesting topic. To define it, a boomerang employee is a worker who leaves a company, whether for personal or professional reasons, or a combination of both, and is rehired later, either into the same position or a different one. It's pretty much what a real boomerang does: they leave, and then they come back. If you ask me for the common reasons employees return, it's usually because they weren't happy with their current job, factors like management style, lack of growth potential, or corporate culture.

Susmita Sarma: So these boomerang employees already know their way around the organization and can ramp up faster than a new hire. How should the decision to rehire be a sound one, rather than just a pleasing one, what factors should be considered before rehiring an ex-employee?

Joel Sebastian: Great question. As HR professionals or hiring managers, there are a few things to keep in mind. One is understanding why the employee decided to leave in the first place, the organization or HR should really ask that "why" question. Was it money, title, a bigger brand, or a better role? Your decision on rehiring should be based on that. And an important follow-up question HR should ask the hiring manager is: what has actually changed now, if this person decides to rejoin? The second factor is culture fit and competency fit, when someone leaves and joins another organization, they change because of that new experience, and evolve as a professional. They may not be the same person they were when they left, so you need to genuinely check the fit, both culturally and in terms of competency, since the role itself may have expanded or changed scope too. Those are a couple of key points to keep in mind.

Susmita Sarma: Brilliant answer, Joel. While preparing for this podcast, I found an interesting stat, almost four million people left their jobs each month in the first quarter of 2022, and 44% of workers were actively seeking new careers. So it's entirely possible someone on your team will leave soon, and it's especially surprising when it's someone you enjoy working with or who has real potential. That's often when managers become defensive, take it personally, argue, or even publicly express their frustration. In your opinion, what should we avoid doing when we see an employee resign?

Joel Sebastian: If you're in people management, this is something you'll encounter at some point, and it's especially true for someone newer to people management, who might panic a bit about how to handle it. My first and foremost suggestion is: don't take it personally. In many organizations I've worked in, there's a tendency, not for everyone, but for some managers, to take it very personally, we're human, it's natural to feel a bit bad and ask yourself, "did I do something wrong, was I not a good leader for this person?" But it's not always about you as a leader. Sometimes it is, but not always, it can be compensation, career growth, or other factors like personal reasons or work-life balance. Not everything is within your control, and that's something people managers need to keep in mind, take it in stride.

If you do get a resignation, it's important to have an open conversation, understand the actual trigger, and if it's within your control as a leader, try to resolve it, or at least reduce the person's difficulty. If it works out, great; if not, you as a leader may not be able to do much more, and you need to ensure the process continues respectfully while the employee makes their decision. Once there's clarity, it's important to follow through properly with the formalities, and crucially, be respectful, treat the employee well. What often happens is that once someone resigns, there's a tendency to sideline or mistreat them during their notice period, and that's something people leaders really need to avoid, because they're still part of your team. The reason I stress this: once they leave, they become your alumni, a lot of organizations these days maintain alumni groups, and they become ambassadors for you outside the organization. With how much influence social media has today, it's very important to maintain a good relationship, treat them well, so they speak well of you and the organization, and you never know, they might come back to work with you again.

Susmita Sarma: That's exactly why I think an effective exit interview is so important when an employee leaves.

Joel Sebastian: Absolutely. Being part of the HR function myself, I've seen that for many organizations, exit interviews are just a tick-mark activity, but there are organizations that take it very seriously, identifying patterns behind attrition and addressing them. If there are two or three specific recurring issues, they get addressed. That's a good point, I'd actually call it more of a "feedforward" mechanism than a feedback one.

Susmita Sarma: So that's about employees who leave voluntarily. What about bringing back employees who were terminated for cause, is that a good idea?

Joel Sebastian: Very relevant question, especially given the current economic situation. I'd keep it simple, and this is something I tell business leaders too, if an employee was terminated for performance issues, or for an ethical issue, companies should not go for a rehire in those cases; I'm pretty clear on that. Layoffs are the one exception, because it's not always performance that leads to someone being let go, even high performers get laid off due to cost pressure or optimization measures during tough economic conditions. So we need to make an exception there. If that person wants to come back and a suitable role opens up, we should do the necessary due diligence, talk to stakeholders and the hiring manager, and then consider rehiring. HR plays a crucial role here, consulting the employee's previous reporting manager to get clarity on whether they'd be a good fit, both culturally and in terms of competency.

Susmita Sarma: Every organization can set its own standards, but it would help to have a clear policy and procedure in place for HR when hiring back a boomerang employee.

Joel Sebastian: Absolutely. A couple of things I keep in mind: first, a cooling period. Often, employees leave for a higher package or a promotion elsewhere, and within six months, want to come back to their previous organization, the ideal scenario isn't to get into a bargaining dynamic. Most companies I've worked with have a policy that an employee can't return within a year, they need to spend at least a year elsewhere before being eligible for rehire. That builds in some discipline. Second, as I mentioned, understanding the motivation for returning matters a lot, as an organization or hiring manager, you need to understand what's actually driving that decision, and how different the situation is now compared to when they left, since teams, roles, and scope can all change. And third, due diligence, getting feedback from the managers and stakeholders the employee actually worked with, and using that as a guideline in your decision-making when you extend an offer.

Susmita Sarma: Thank you for laying those points out, Joel. What tips would you give HR leaders or managers listening to us who are considering hiring a boomerang employee?

Joel Sebastian: I'd recommend going for it, since it's genuinely a win-win for both the employee and the organization. The very fact both parties are willing to evaluate working together again suggests there was a good experience between them previously, and that itself is a positive signal. A couple of concrete benefits: a boomerang employee needs far less time to train and onboard than a new hire, which matters a lot to organizations that need people to start contributing quickly with minimal ramp-up. Another benefit is that a boomerang employee tends to be more engaged and motivated, because they've already bought into the company's vision and mission, which is also some assurance they'll stay longer this time. And for me, the biggest advantage is that they already know how the organization works, while also bringing an outside perspective from their time elsewhere, which is a genuine benefit to the organization. Those are the things that come to mind on this question.

Susmita Sarma: Great job, thank you for joining me today. We've reached the end of the podcast, and I'm sure our audience will want to connect with you, how can they reach out?

Joel Sebastian: They can reach out to me on LinkedIn, or by email. I'd be happy to engage with any questions.

Susmita Sarma: I'll link to your LinkedIn profile in the show notes for this episode. It was a pleasure talking with you today, Joel, thank you for sharing your knowledge and insights, they're incredibly valuable for our HR audience, and we can't wait to have you back on the podcast with another interesting topic. Thanks again for your time.

Joel Sebastian: Thank you so much, it's been a pleasure. Have a good day.