Your company is growing, perhaps you are expanding in a new direction, and you’ve let your staff know that you are looking for more people. A person applies for one of these new positions who has worked for you once before. Should you hire him/her back? That will depend on several factors.
- Did they move on to a firm where they learned some things that could help your company out?
- Were they a good worker?
- How was their attitude when they left your company?
- Would other team members be happy to have that person come back?
I remember that at one time a customer of ours had to lay some really good people off. It wasn’t a choice they were happy to make, but they just couldn’t afford to pay them any longer. The people they laid off, while sad they were losing their jobs, fully understood why they were getting cut from the payroll.
Business picked up and the first people this customer reached out to were their former employees! Some of them said thanks but no thanks, but others had loved working for this customer and they wanted to return. While the former employees worked elsewhere, they had honed their skills, learned new ones and they would definitely be an asset to the company once again.
If, on the other hand, the person who is asking to come back was a difficult employee, hiring them back could be more of a risk. However, that’s not always the case. If they were grumbling over a lack of advancement, or they had personality problems with a manager who is no longer at the company, then I would think it could be just fine to invite that person back. Provided that their attitude has changed, and their personalities now seem to meld better with current management.
I know at Central Comm we have had some great employees leave to finish their education, because of their partner’s job transfer, or to take time off to raise their children. We welcome them back with open arms. They know our company, our values, our customer base, and as long as they left on good terms, we welcome them back!!
Central Comm