Employees jumping ship, but many want to climb back on board
Employees may be leaving jobs at historically high rates, but there’s a silver lining: A big bunch of them come back to their old employers.
That’s the word from a new survey from national staffing company Spherion. About 1,000 full- and part-time workers took part in the research, and nearly one in three (29%) said they’ve returned to a previous employer after leaving for some time. An additional 41% said they were open to being a similar “boomerang” employee.
Why are so many workers open to the idea of returning to a company they once left? Salary was the biggest motivator, but the “the feeling of being wanted” came in second, the survey said.
Sixteen percent of workers said they would consider going back to a previous employer if a former manager or colleague expressed interest in having them do so. An equal number indicated that they never wanted to leave their previous company in the first place, with non-work factors necessitating the move.
And it doesn’t look like the former employers need to make the initial overture. More than half (55%) of workers said it is their responsibility to initiate conversation about making a return, versus only 28% who believe a previous colleague should reach out to them.
The flip side: More than one in three (35%) workers would not consider going back, feeling that such a move would either be a step back in their career (27%) or the company culture was not the right fit the first time (19%).
The physics of ‘boomerangs’
As you can see, the boomerang concept could have important implications for recruitment and hiring strategies. In fact, 36% of employees say they are more likely to work for a company that accepts boomerang employees. Perhaps looking ahead to their own future decisions, nearly half (47%) believe ex-employees should have to participate in a less rigorous hiring process than new candidates. Additionally, 35% of workers believe previous employees should get credit for “previous time clocked” at a former job when they are evaluated for tenure-based benefits.
Some other interesting trends in the Spherion survey, which was conducted by WorkSphere:
Incentives play key role
Of those who said they could be influenced to return to a former employer, the top two reasons would be for a more flexible schedule than they currently have (22%) and for the opportunity to work in a position uniquely created for them (17%).
One-in-five millennial (18-34) females would want a higher title than they currently have if they were to return to a former company.
That ‘awkward moment’
Forty-five percent of workers would not feel awkward returning to a previous employer.
More millennials (46%) than any other generation said they would feel awkward returning, compared with less than 33% of workers in older age demographics.
More millennial males (59%) than females (42%) would feel awkward returning as a boomerang employee.
Boomerang favoritism?
One-in-five employees (18%) believe their employer targets potential boomerangers for rehire over new candidates.
The top reason employees think employers seek out potential boomerangers is to save money on recruiting and training new employees (37%).
Thirty-six percent of employees said they believe their company’s familiarity with past employees’ abilities is why they rehire people who have previously worked there.
