Consciously uncouple to benefit from boomerang employees

Consciously uncoupling may be a phrase made famous by Hollywood couples like Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin, but the idea behind it brings benefits to all when thought of in the context of a relationship ending between an employer and an employee.

When an employee is departing an organisation the years of commitment, engagement, trust and loyalty can easily be broken in just a matter of hours if redundancy or a resignation is handled badly.

This may not matter to some organisations as they might believe it is a relationship that is simply no more. However, the rise of boomerang employees is here. According to a study by Kronos which surveyed more than 1,800 HR professionals, 76 percent say they are more accepting of hiring boomerang employees today than in the past and nearly 40 percent of employees said they would consider going back to a company where they previously worked.

In the past five years, 85 percent of HR professionals say they have received job applications from former employees, and 40 percent say their organisation hired about half of those former employees who applied.