HR more open to bringing back former employees

Almost 80% of HR executives are more open to rehiring former employees, according to a new survey.

The report, which interviewed over 1,800 HR professionals, managers and employees in America, found that 76% are increasingly accepting of so-called “boomerang” workers - those who return to former companies after having sought employment elsewhere.

The research, conducted by Kronos and Workplace Trends, also found that employee are less anxious about returning to a former employer, with 40% of those asked saying they would definitely consider boomeranging. However, despite the growing acceptance, the trend is still something of an oddity, with just 15% of employees claiming to have returned to their former workplace.

Dan Schawbel, Founder of Workplace Trends, puts the boomerang tendency down to a healthy workplace environment. He said: “What we’re seeing at the workplace level is a fundamental shift in [the] employee-employer relationship that is at the root of this. It used to be that the control was with the employer. You got to work here, it was coveted. You were lucky to have a job. I think that has changed quite a bit, driven by the war for top talent in the marketplace."