For one, boomerang employees can cling to old ideas, expect increased compensation, or even resume old feuds with other workers. But wait, we aren’t here to glare at the red flags, we are here to gleam in the green, right?

“Who says you can’t go back?

I have been all around the world and as a matter of fact,

There’s only one place left I wanna go.

Who says you can’t go home?”

Bon Jovi and Jennifer Nettles sang their hearts out to this song. While the music video depicts a group of volunteers rebuilding homes for Habitat For Humanity, there are other ways to define what your “home” is. Career options can sometimes lead employees back home (meaning where they grew up) or home (meaning somewhere they’ve worked before).

The idea behind rehiring employees isn’t a new one, it’s just typically noticed in larger-than-life returns. And for many past employees, the thought of going back to their former workplace, their former homes oftentimes, isn’t that appealing. But here’s catcher in the rye — hiring boomerang employees is actually on the rise. Why? — Because there are benefits to bringing them back into the grind. Let’s delve in!

6 Ways Boomerang Employees Can Save Your IT Workforce

While a ‘virgin’ hire comes with a lot of red flags, boomerang employees have already proven their mettle in terms of culture and process fit. They can also help send a message to other employees that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.

Ex-employees or as we are now calling them boomerangs know the holistic goal, vision, process which the company has envisaged for its workforce.

Get this, the very knowledge which made the employee feel alienated in the organization – lends itself to the employee being at full productivity sooner than a new hire. In turn, this allows your organization to spend its time training in other areas, while also saving money and effort on recruiting new hires. Lucrative, right?

Rehiring former employees who were productive and valued can provide a boost in morale to the existent workforce. Case in point, in terms of pure statistics, the number of rehires in IT companies like IBM and Mindtree is said to have doubled and there are obvious reasons behind the rise of the boomerang employee hiring. The influence is strong with this one.

By showing off your industry leading ‘rehire former employees policy’, through the market you can generate excellent public relations for your company. Almost half the number of HR professionals believe that their organizations did not have a policy in practice for rehiring, even when the employee had parted with a good understanding.

Although there is an antithesis to the same remorse, 76 % of the elites say that they are more open to hiring boomerang employees now than they did in the past. Now that is a surprise.

The previous employees will always be a better bet as they know and appreciate the organization structure and the culture. The odds are placed better for these rehires being better culture fits.This is backed up by research that a good culture fit would have a greater level of job satisfaction, likely to stay more with the company and accounting for a lower turnover.

Moreover, the former employees are aware of all the idiosyncrasies that make the company unique. IT heads are be delighted to see these employees become reliable resources inside the organization on their return. Here’s another benefit: a boomerang employee may return with a wealth of new knowledge concerning how your competitors operate – which could result in a variety of long-term benefits.

Talent pools are drying up for the tech giants, with fast changes in the technology landscape, so the recruiters need to address the critical target group of boomerangs as they are expected to acquire newer skills, honing their existing ones. Sometimes an assessment of rehires is all that is needed to ensure that they are the best fit for the organizations.

Many large IT organizations like HP have recruitment team dedicated for hiring these employees. Talking about boomerangs aren’t we all rejoicing in the glory of the partially eaten fruit? Yes, flashback to the story of divine rehires, the story of Steve Jobs leaving and then coming back to Apple.  

No one organization is the right fit for every employee and vice versa. Sometimes making a change is the best thing for both the employee and the employer.   But this data shows that it’s mutually beneficial for highly engaged employees with outstanding performance and organizations with strong cultures to part ways in good standing.

The best boomerang strategy for forward-thinking organizations is to ensure that employees are engaged and feel appreciated while at work – that way if employees decide to leave to explore other career options, the organization will be on the short list of employer options if their career situation changes and they are looking for a more positive opportunity.

Conclusion

And at the end, we haven’t delivered what we promised. 5 points instead of 6, but we can’t share all our trade secrets at once, or can we? Read more on our e-paper here.

IT Tech Recruiters and Heads are facing a lackluster in the talent pools they have been recruiting from. They have searched every crevice and every nook, never looking back at what they have left behind. Capitalize on the gold mines that your organization has left behind. GodSpeed.