Tepid job market drives boomerang hiring
Chennai: If you are looking to leave your company, it is better you exit on good terms, without burning bridges. In the face of the tepid job market, your old employer may want you back.
With jobs hard to come by, employees look to re-join their workplace and companies have strategies in place to have a familiar faces amidst them.
The RPG group has hired over 36 ex-employees in this financial year alone.
S Venkatesh, president, group HR at RPG Enterprises said, "We believe such hires can hit the ground running as they know the culture and how things work around here. They also enjoy a credibility that first time hires into RPG will take time to build."
Mid-sized firms have the added advantage of the top management having a better rapport with the employees. Raj Prakash, founder, Zifo RnD says that any proven ability is an advantage.
"This way we have to rely less on references and assessment tools for they measure the skills only. The culture fitment and their skills are already known to us and the re-hires tend to be with us longer, since it is a familiar environment," he added.
The boomerang hires would be given a position considering their experience outside the organisation.
"It would be a level playing field with the other employees of the organisation, while taking into account the growth and experience they have gained during the tenure outside the company as well," said Prakash. The firm re-hired Rukhsana Zareen, who left the company for a year, only to come back to the same environment.
"The direct exposure to clients was an advantage in the company, which drew me back," she said.
Boomerang hires also offer a cost advantage to employers.
"From the hiring perspective, a re-hire is less of an uncertainty. In case of a Boomerang hire, the organisations have already seen the individual at work and are aware of the strengths and weaknesses they bring. So they reduce the risk factor. Moreover, such ex-employees often maintain strong links with current employees and leverage these relationships to re-join the company. So this brings down agency costs and the time to hire substantially. Depending on how long the individual was away from the company, the on boarding can be shorter," said Sriram Vaidyanathan, CHRO, BankBazaar. At the fintech company, 1.5 - 2% of the resumes they receive are of former employees.
HR experts add that even as they let go of the employees who seek greener pastures, firms have strategies in place to lure some of the top performers back.
"Afraid of burning bridges, HR managers of some companies are mandated to keep in touch with the ex-employees for a year after they quit, so the relationship with the company is not affected. The tepid job market, unpredictability and the rapid tech transformation is driving the companies towards approaching the high performing ex-employees back. This is something that benefits the employer and the employee," said Thammaiah BN, MD, Kelly Services.
Recruitment firms see a 2x growth in boomerang hiring and predict up to 10% of ex-employees to be brought back by new companies in the next fiscal. Omega Healthcare has an employee home coming programme. "Former employees are usually are much more engaged & agile in their second innings. They are re-deployed to running projects as they already possess the required skillsets, experience, and familiarity with protocols," said Krishnan Bangaruswamy, senior director - HR, Omega Healthcare. Over 40 such hires have been made this year.
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