Back for good: How ‘boomerang hiring’ is helping companies stay ahead of the curve

The latest Labour Force Survey from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows that the number of people in work in the second quarter of this year was 2,554,600 — up 8.7 per cent compared with the same period last year. Overall, 73.5 per cent of people aged from 15 to 64 were in work — up from 68.6 per cent a year earlier, the highest figure on record.

While good news for society and the economy, these statistics also present challenges for employers who are finding it increasingly difficult to source and retain talent.

One solution to this problem may be to implement a “boomerang hiring” strategy. “This is where you reach out to people who have left the company either voluntarily or for a specific reason unrelated to their workplace experience and seek their return to the organisation,” explains Mazars’ people consulting director Sonya Boyce.

“The recruitment market is at an interesting juncture,” she says. “We are seeing the nexus of several factors impacting on hiring practices and labour market trends. Across the media, nationally and internationally, we are bombarded with fear-inducing stories of looming economic recession, climbing interest rates, world wars, energy crises, spiralling cost of living and so on. Despite this, organisations are still struggling to attract and retain key talent. In many cases that is impairing their ability to drive the critical growth plans required to address the economic and market pressures they are experiencing at present.”

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Tight labour market conditions have seen the balance of power shift firmly in favour of employees, according to Mazars partner Graham Love. “It is very much an employee-centric labour market right now,” he says. “Employees are able to secure new roles quite easily. They can also partake in multiple interview processes, enter into pay negotiations, and secure significant counter-offers in the process.”

A boomerang hiring strategy can be very effective for organisations, says Boyce. “Oftentimes, when employees’ expectations of their new roles are not met and indeed their experience of a new working environment — together with the challenges of onboarding, either remote or in person — are not all they had hoped, the old adage of the grass not always being greener often rings true,” she points out.

“Boomerang hiring is a safe option as it saves time, money and human resources,” adds Love.

Among the key advantages is significantly reduced recruitment costs — no advertising and no expensive agency fees. “As you already know and have worked with the individual, you do not need to avail of outsourced recruitment assistance and incur substantial recruitment costs,” says Love. “It also means that you don’t have to go through a long and laborious interviewing process to find the right candidate.”

Only those employees who are ready to trust you for the second time will come back. You can therefore expect increased employee loyalty

Strangely enough, the organisation can actually gain as a result of the employee’s departure. “The company may gain a competitive advantage,” Boyce explains. “As the boomerang employee rejoins your organisation, they will bring with them additional experience, knowledge and skills that they acquired during their time working outside your organisation and probably wouldn’t have acquired had they stayed with you.”

There is also a productivity gain, with returning boomerang employees hitting the ground running in their new roles. “Boomerang recruitment is all about hiring your ex-employees and not having to invest in significant upskilling or training of new staff,” Love points out. “That means there is little or no wasted time on induction or familiarisation, and they can add value from day one.”

Boyce also highlights the loyalty factor. “When you implement boomerang hiring, only those employees who are ready to trust you for the second time will come back,” she says. “You can therefore expect increased employee loyalty, and this should translate into an enhanced retention rate.”

The corollary is also true. Employees will certainly not return to organisations that they don’t trust or where they had a bad experience when leaving. That places a heavy premium on creating high-trust organisations and an onus on employers to ensure that the leaving experience is as pleasant as possible.

“The emergence of boomerang hiring practices in the marketplace places a strong emphasis on the importance and power of effective, meaningful relationships in a work context,” says Boyce. “The expression ‘people leave managers, not jobs’ needs to be front of mind and it is key that managers ensure that resignations are dealt with as positively and professionally as possible. This will ensure that the door remains open for honest, meaningful conversations and makes possible the return of former employees.”