Question

Scenario

When one of Santera Systems’ top engineers left the telecom upstart for another hot tech company, CEO David Heard tried to convince the employee he was making the wrong move. That engineer should have listened. Heard’s former star showed up at Santera only four months later looking for his old job back. Turned out his new employer wasn’t so hot after all. “He came back, hat in hand, and said ‘I made a mistake,’” says Heard.

You could call them prodigal employees—workers who leave in search of greener pastures, only to return to the fold when things don’t work out as planned. The tech meltdown and the unstable economy have forced a growing group of newly displaced workers to knock on their former employers’ doors.

Good people, however, are hard to find, and prodigal employees should be welcomed back—if there is a position to fill. But it’s not such a clear-cut decision for small businesses. Since employee relationships tend to be tighter-knit at smaller firms, a company’s productivity can easily unravel when the boss shows signs of favoritism. In Santera’s case, CEO Heard felt rehiring the engineer would harm his efforts to build a culture long on longevity and short on greed. “Part of me thought, ‘Bring him back—he’s a smart guy,’” Heard says, “but you don’t want to reward his behavior. It doesn’t send the right message to the employees who stuck with you.”

Small-company CEOs and managers must be extra sensitive to their employees’ morale if they do decide to bring back a wayward worker. Recruiting experts suggest lining up allies to be advocates for the returning employee before—and after—his or her first day back. That helps the rest of the team understand why the “ex” is back home and helps the old newcomer feel more comfortable. They also recommend giving the whole team a project to pursue together.

In many cases, bringing back a former employee can be an unexpected boon for a small company. Sterling Communications executive Chris Corcoran was happy to rehire a qualified account supervisor who had left months earlier for a dot-com that went bust. He was pleasantly surprised to discover she came back with a better understanding of business as a result of wearing many hats at the tech company. “She had matured and become a much better counselor to our clients.”

What would be the advantages and disadvantages of hiring a former employee in larger organizations? In small firms?

How valid were David Heard’s concerns about the effect of returning employees on the company’s culture?

At which level of the organization should the rehire decision be made—supervisory, middle management, or upper management?

Answer 1

The Advantages of hiring a former employee in larger organisation can be the below:

• They are already familier with the work, they are not only familier with the culture of the company, but they also likely have prior experience with internal systems and processes.

• They might develop new skills, experience or perspectives that can benefit your organization.

• They can improve retention rate of the organization by letting other know that its not favourable to move to other companies from which he came back..

• They don't have recruitment or trainings expenses, further they can act as trainers instead saving huge training costs to the company.

The Disadvantages of hiring a former employee in larger organisation can be the below:

• They might hold old grudges that they’ll bury the hatchet this time around. Reignited feuds can damage team morale.

• They might be entitled to or demand hefty perks, seniority or increased compensation from their original tenure.

• Rehired employees can stubbornly cling to old processes and systems from their original tenure while the rest of the company has moved on.

• You could be missing out on the top person in your applicant pipeline by unconsciously favoring the ex-worker.

In Smaller firms the advantages are with respect to better positions, having better control, knows the in and outs of the firms. The disadvantages are the that the person might dominate his superiority and might have grudges which can ruin the whole reputation of the firm.

David Heard concern's are genuine it should be kept in mind before going for a rehire. The culture of the company can be ruined if a dirty fish joins back again, so before making such a decision a detailed review of his behavior at work should be considered.

Rehire decision should be made on the supervisory or middle management so they do not have full control of the organization as act as dictators. There will be controlling authorities above them to keep a keen eye on any mischivious behaviour that can'provide immense damage to the organization.