How Boomerang Employees Are Making Employers Prioritise Offboarding Processes

Boomerang employees are increasingly being viewed as a valuable talent resource for businesses, with around 28% of all new hires across all sectors being ex-employees who have resigned within the previous 36 months.

In the current market, we are seeing a rise in candidate mobility and job-hopping, with skilled professionals confident in moving between jobs to secure new and better opportunities. With more employees prioritising new challenges over company loyalty, many are happy to return to previous employers for the right project.

As 62% of businesses are currently experiencing skills gaps, employers are also becoming more accepting of team members who leave and then seek to return at a later date. For businesses looking to re-engage ex-employees, they need to be aware of the substantial link between positive offboarding experiences and ex-employees seeking to return to previous employers, and make a number of improvements.

What are boomerang employees?

Boomerang employees are individuals who leave their employers and then are rehired at a later date. These boomerang employees may rejoin in the same position, in a more senior capacity, or even on a different team, depending on the skills and experiences they acquired during the time since leaving their employers initially.

New hires are considered “boomerang employees” after any period of time between one contract ending and another beginning, however, roughly 75% of boomerang employees return within 16 months. With 71% of professionals open to returning to a previous employer, the opportunity for businesses to take advantage of boomerang employees is high.

Why should employers consider hiring boomerang employees?

Hiring boomerang employees may not be many hiring managers’ first thought when considering who would fit their vacancies. Understandably, some employers may feel uncomfortable hiring boomerang employees, perhaps as a point of pride or due to concerns about their commitment. However, these ex-employees can be a real advantage to their former employers for many reasons, including:

• They already know the systems

A clear benefit of boomerang employees is that they need a shorter length of time to get to grips with company systems, operations, and relationships with stakeholders.

They will likely already know the relevant procedures and need minimal training and initial support, often making them more productive and up and running faster than someone completely new to the business. For businesses that rely on fast-moving projects and may require people resource that can be ramped up quickly, boomerang employees can be a fantastic and cost-effective option.

• They have already built relationships with key stakeholders, clients, or customers

For organisations that are predominantly customer-facing, rehiring ex-employees can be very positive if they had good relationships with those clients previously. They may even be able to bring lapsed clients back due to their existing relationships.

Hiring a familiar face can also ease the transition of exiting employees by bringing on boomerang employees who are already familiar with clients.

• They already understand team dynamics

When recruiting new employees, there’s always a risk that their presence may negatively impact team dynamics. However, boomerang employees will likely already know and have established relationships with several team members, making the re-onboarding process easier. They will likely be able to transition into the role effectively and fit within the company culture more easily than individuals who are unknown to the business.

However, it is crucial for hiring managers to be aware of recruiting boomerang employees who frequently clashed with their team members when they were last employed. Otherwise, there might be the potential for friction and clashes with colleagues who were relieved to see them leave the first time.

• They may bring new experiences, skills, and knowledge

When onboarding boomerang employees, businesses are not hiring the same person who left. Boomerang employees often return having gained new experiences, maybe on different projects in other sectors, developed underused skills, and can now offer a fresh perspective to projects, tasks and decision-making. Businesses that successfully rehire ex-employees will find ways to maximise the experiences and skills the employee gained in the space between leaving the company and returning.

• Businesses know the boomerang employees’ abilities and shortcomings

When recruiting new employees, it can be tricky to know for certain whether successful candidates would be bad hires or not. Skills and psychometric assessments can give companies a good insight into their candidates’ abilities and what they may struggle with, however, there are no certainties that they will be successful in the role. By hiring boomerang employees, companies know what they’re getting, as they already understand their skillsets, areas of excellence and any limitations they might have.

• It can help businesses fill skills gaps

For businesses that need specialist talent, hiring ex-employees back into the same role can fill much-needed skills gaps. This is particularly notable for very niche roles where there is only a small pool of candidates who have the right skills for the job. When recruiting for these niche roles, recruiters will often contact previous employees first to see if they would return before headhunting or taking the role to market.

• It is a much quicker process

For businesses that hire boomerang employees, the recruitment process can be much more straightforward and quicker, meaning these organisations can have someone on board immediately, ready to keep projects moving. Usually, only one-stage interviews are necessary when rehiring ex-employees, as the hiring managers will already be well acquainted with the individuals and their abilities. Reducing time to hire means that there are shorter delays on projects and tasks, and less pressure on the wider team to take over the workloads of the previous exiting employees. Overall, making it a much cheaper option for employers.

The importance of a good employee offboarding process

Typically, the onboarding process is given a lot of attention as a key factor in the hiring and retention of employees. Hiring managers understand the need for a bespoke and supportive onboarding process as a vital part of their workforce planning, but often they underestimate the importance of a successful offboarding.

A number of employers see offboarding as less important because they are no longer prioritising the needs of employees who are leaving. However, bad offboarding processes can negatively impact businesses’ abilities to hire and retain professionals, as well as hinder their chances of engaging boomerang employees.

• Retaining employees

Poor employee offboarding processes can affect the retention of other employees if the workloads of exiting employees are not properly managed, leading to a sudden increase in responsibilities for their colleagues. This can increase the teams’ stress levels and make them more likely to leave. Additionally, if the original offboarding processes were poorly managed and the employees weren’t treated well, it can create a negative atmosphere across the business.

• Attracting new employees

Secondly, negative offboarding processes can affect many organisations’ ability to attract professionals. This is because workers talk to each other and share advice on employers, particularly niche-skilled professionals, where the talent pools are often small. Poor offboarding can make departing employees form negative opinions of their previous workplaces, even if they had positive experience overall, and then share these opinions with their peers. In roles that already have a limited talent pool, this can make future recruitment much more difficult, whether they want to rehire ex-employees or not.

• Rehiring ex-employees

Finally, businesses should ensure that they have effective offboarding process in order to increase their chances of hiring boomerang employees in the future. 40% of employees say that their offboarding process influences their willingness to return to a previous employer. A poor offboarding experience can leave employees feeling undervalued and disillusioned, potentially souring their perception of their former employer.

In contrast, a good offboarding experience will make departing employees feel more positive about their previous companies and will leave feeling valued and respected. When handled correctly, a great offboarding experience reinforces the company’s commitment to employee engagement and care. As a result, former employees are more likely to view the organisation as a desirable place to work and be open to returning.

Tips for improving the employee offboarding process

• Put aside emotions

Receiving a resignation can be upsetting for some managers. This could be because of frustration that a recruitment process will need to be started, or due to a feeling of betrayal or even envy.

However, managers need to remember to put aside personal feelings, to remain professional, and to ensure the offboarding process is carried out effectively. Managers who let emotions take over, act with spite, or refuse to work with exiting employees, only damage their companies by not maximising the notice period and reducing their chances of rehiring ex-employees.

• Work out the boundaries of a notice period

Notice periods can be a tricky time, as it may be hard for some businesses to know what to do with exiting employees.  In some organisations, they want to limit the interactions the exiting employees have with clients or customers out of fear that they will poach them for their next employer. Others will need departing employees to create a handbook or help with recruiting their replacement.

Having a clear idea of the exact details of how the notice period needs to be carried out will reduce confusion and make the overall experience smoother for all parties. Often, notice periods are a defining experience for exiting employees. Having a positive offboarding experience can turn ex-employees into boomerang employees.

• Implement effective exit interviews

Conducting exit interviews is a crucial step in the employee offboarding process for all businesses. Despite this, around 55% of departing employees are not invited to exit interviews.

Exit interviews help to:

• Spot problems or potential issues within certain departments and teams before they cause more people to exit the organisation.
• Understand how to improve procedures, such as onboarding, in the future.
• Give departing employees the space to address any issues they have and make them feel listened to.
• Identify which ex-employees could be future boomerang employees.

Exit interviews are a fantastic opportunity for businesses to spot issues before they get out of control and, when these problems are addressed, can make ex-employees much more likely to want to return.

• Celebrate their achievements

Towards the end of notice periods, it is a good idea for managers to meet with departing employees to thank them for their hard work and celebrate their achievements during their employment. Managers may like to consider offering gifts to these leavers, organising work socials for teams to say goodbye, or offering to write a reference for them. This can help to bridge any gap created by their resignations and smooth over any negative emotions.

Additionally, it can help if the managers keep in touch with ex-employees by interacting with their LinkedIn and congratulating them on their future career milestones. This will continue an open dialogue between the two that can facilitate the option for the departing employee to potential return.

VIQU IT is an award-winning IT recruitment agency. If you are looking for expert tech talent, whether from a boomerang employee or a new candidate, get in touch with us here to facilitate a tailored, bespoke recruitment process.