×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Rehiring Employee
2

Rehiring Employee

Rehiring Employee

(OP)
A good employee has left for the lush green grass on the other side of the hill, and found that it was only astroturf.
The individual now sees the error in their move and asks for their old job back.
Good employees are hard to find and we could certainly use this one, so what do we do?
Does your Company have a rehire policy?
What are the pros and cons of rehiring a well qualified employee?
What are your experiences, from the management and from the employee side?
Thank you for your feedback.

RE: Rehiring Employee

The company I work for has re-hired people.  Some of them ones that left, we've also re-hired (usually temporary) people laid off!

I'd think the biggest concern is, they've left for greener grass once, are they likely to do it again in a relatively short timescale.

Pros would obviously be that they have experience of not just the field but specifically your company so should be productive fro day one.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

RE: Rehiring Employee

Steve Howe went back to Yes.  Robbie Steinhardt went back to Kansas.  Why not hire an old hand back?

RE: Rehiring Employee

Richie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, David Lee Roth, hmm, not so sure ...

RE: Rehiring Employee

Better get the terms of rehire in writing.  Does he start at his old seniority?  Start over?  Is there a waiting period for benefits?
Make sure there is agreeemnt, or he'll be out the door again.

RE: Rehiring Employee

I suppose it depends on the circumstances surrounding their departure.  If they left on good terms, I don't see the problem in bringing them back.

How long were they gone?  If they were gone a long time, your company may have moved forward, and the rehire will not be the fit you think they could be.  If they have only been gone a short time, the transition should be easy.

Are you in a supervisory position over the potential rehire?  What are your thoughts about the rehire?  You seem to indicate the rehire was a good employee.  What makes them "good"?  Are they truly, or is your department just settling for good enough?

Is your company in a niche market?  Perhaps his skill set is too specialized, and the former employee feels ill-equipped to face life in a new industry.  As Greenone states, get the details in writing, but this would be advice I'd give more to the rehire than to HR.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: Rehiring Employee

People move on. Someimes they want to come back and if they didn't burn lots of bridges, and you didn't want to see them go in the first, place, why not?
I've known several such instances and in one case the guy returned to his old position with all his benefits etc inplace as if he had never left.

This re-hire also saves you money spent on recruiting and the productivity issues with any replacement learning his job and establishing his place.

BUT: why did he leave? If the reasons he left are not addressed, he will be off again when he finds another job better to his liking. This needs action.

Hm... didn't we cover this in another thread somewhere?

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

RE: Rehiring Employee

Afetr 18 months I returned to my old job, old desk, old manager on contract, and then 18 months later took it on as a permanent position. In those three years my pay rose by >50%, and oddly enough, I don't think I've applied for another outside job since, that was 9 years ago.


Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

RE: Rehiring Employee

(OP)
I guess my problem has to do with the negative side of rehiring more than the positive.
We have experienced situations where, on rehire, employees have developed the attitude that they are special because they left, and then were accepted back. The ego kicks in and that has caused friction with other employees. As a result of that we decided a few years ago that once you leave, you are gone for good.
I understand that sometimes this can be like biting your nose to spite your face, but people can get pretty dumb when their ego controls their actions.
Have you found similar problems or do you think our situation is out of the ordinary?

RE: Rehiring Employee

If you have a formal policy of no hirebacks, then you follow your policy.  You could perhaps side-step it in a manner similar to how GregLocock indicates with bringing them back in on a contract.  Where I work we have a policy where you could return within 12 months without loss of seniority and subsequent benefits.  Off hand, though I cannot think of an instance where the policy ended up being implemented.  When people decide to leave, there are reasons for it.  That is why the grass may indeed appear greener.  Unless their reason(s) for leaving have been resolved, they may be likely to leave again.

Regards,

RE: Rehiring Employee

I concur with PSE. If you do decide to re-hire, get him on a contract. If things don't work out, you can lose him much easier.
My personal opinion is that someone leaving, should not be returning in the short term (say up to 2 years). Also should they want to return after a longer period, make sure that the reasons he/she left have been resolved and discussed.

Solidworks 2006/DBWorks 2006 user

RE: Rehiring Employee

I had a coworker of mine leave and then return within a year's time.  Unfortunately he returned to a different (higher) position for significantly more money.  This made those of us who stayed a bit sore when we found out.  What will your coworkers think of the return?

RE: Rehiring Employee

Leaving a company and returning a year later is common in civil engineering in my area (Florida), especially right after you get your P.E.  It seems to be the only way to increase salary to a decent level.  We've had one engineer leave for a year and come back, and one come in for a year and go back to his former company.  Both increased their salaries by >$20,000.  Both would have received only modest raises without switching jobs.  I plan to do the same thing when I get my P.E., if the market holds up.

RE: Rehiring Employee

(OP)
I guess, in the end, we are all just hired guns. Do the job and move on to wherever the next higher paying gig is. Although I am not quite ancient, I still remember when loyalty to a company was the norm. In return the company was loyal to the employees, and the world seemed to be a good place.
Might as well face it that those days are loooong gone. There just is not the same amount of trust that existed before. Now we should have contracts to protect our rights, creating the "us vs them" environment.
I certainly don't like it but, I guess, I have to deal with it.
Bottom line, I suppose, is that managers must hire who they need and only for what they need. If tomorrow things don't look as good as they do today we must dump our human inventory, as there are no emotional ties. Bring them back, use them, and spit them back out.
Every man/woman for themselves!

RE: Rehiring Employee

jgailla makes a point about which I've had many conversations.  

I've seen too many employers hire new guys with skillset X at dollar amount Y.  After several years on the payroll, the guy now has skillset X+5 but has received pay increase Y+1.  

He goes to Company B and shows them skillset X+5 and they give him Y+5 dollars.

What really stirs the pot is when guy with skillset X+5 and dollars Y+1 sees HIS company hire new guy off the street with skillset X+4 and dollars Y+4...

I fought that mentality for years.

old field guy

RE: Rehiring Employee

We have a cycle of growth and shrinkage here.  During a shrinkage time, people are encouraged to take "voluntary redundancy", which involves a pay-off.  Then during a growth time, they often get taken back on - sometimes into a similar position.

RE: Rehiring Employee

Come on, how can you lose:
- you know the person better than any other canditate
- the person knows the organisation
- the person knows the procedures
- the person knows the job
- the person knows the external contacts
- the person will NEVER lose face even further and leave the company a second time!!

Of course I am assuming he left the first time without your company having pushed him to.

RE: Rehiring Employee

I have been on the other end - I've been hired back (more than once).

Companies often have to let people go. Why can't an employee leave?

I have no worries about hiring someone who has left - assuming of course you want them back.

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."   
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: Rehiring Employee

The "grass is greener" argument can also be seen as a pro - all companies are faced with the same trouble and having seen that for himself and figured he likes the way you deal with it best he may be more inclined to stay put when other opportunites come along.

RE: Rehiring Employee

It would be a great help to everyone speculating on what the best course of action would be if you provide us with the following information:

1.) Why, specifically, did the employee leave? Was it to obtain a higher salary, better working conditions, more interesting work, etc.?

2.) If you choose to hire them back, will you need to directly address the reason why they left to prvent them from leaving again? Or will the experience with the other firm be sufficient motivation for them to stick around?

3.) Does hiring this individual back violate your company policies?

I have seen examples where employees leave for various reasons and then return. Sometimes after they return they stay for the balance of their careers. But somewtimes they are asked to leave shortly after their return. It all depends on their ability and character, whether or not your company and the offered position are right for them at this stage in their career, and the motivation of each party.

Maui

RE: Rehiring Employee

In some sectors, in the big contracting houses, for example, the work force expands and contacts according to where the contracts go and the dispossessed follow the contracts, OK, Usually as contract self employed, but the shrinkage and growth can sometimes exceed the normal ebb and flow and it happens to permanents as well.

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

RE: Rehiring Employee

in my old department at my old company, that's how 5 of 20 people had gotten their raises. HAH!  Those 5 were the top paid on the crew.

-dsg

RE: Rehiring Employee

Epoisses, why do you say, "the person will NEVER lose face even further and leave the company a second time!!"?  I did and I didn't see it as loosing face at all.  I agree with your other points.  Maybe your last one was tongue-in-cheek and I just didn't get it.  Anyway, what's the difference if he leaves in two years.  At least you had somebody who know what they were doing for two years.

I think the risk of a newbie not working out or working out but leaving in a short time is just as big a risk as anything you risk hiring the old guy back.  In the end, Widla, you know more about the situation than any of us arm chair managers, go with your gut.

RE: Rehiring Employee

OK, rehire on the same terms or improved terms?

First the re-hire is way out the cheapest option even if you find out it is about the money and pay him more.
You can take him back as if he never left.
 
The advantages are that HR protect their budget and their turnover ratio.
If you have to hire a replacement they need to spend on advertising and then they pay an agency to do their work for them. Plus they will probably have to pay a living wage to get a newbie anyway and he isn't going to be worth anything for 6 months.

And at the end? the newbie is as likely to move on as anyone else.

So with the rehire you may have to pay him more and re-instate his seniority etc else you just are making sure he is straight back on the job hunt and all you bought yourself is a few weeks or months.

If you do significantly increase his rewards did you buy anything? Well, perhaps a couple of years.

But if you can't keep people you pay well, how do you expect to keep people you don't pay well?

The only downside would be if he teaches the others on subsistence level incomes how to work the trick.

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

RE: Rehiring Employee

(OP)
The money is really not the issue. We understand that you "pay me now or you pay me later". It is every manager's responsibility to know what their industry pays and to try to remain competitive.
The main concern we have is with the message to the remaining employees. The message can be that it is OK to try something else and if it does not work out then these chumps will always take me back, or, I better make sure that I am doing the right thing and have given it the appropriate amount of thinking because this door will close behind me. In some ways this becomes a test of character. If you leave and then want to come back then are you considered to be weak of character?

RE: Rehiring Employee

The message is simpler than you think and you have over-analysed it.

If one of the chumps had gone we wouldn't be having this discussion because you'd have said "No thanks, you chose to go, stay gone."

So the fact is that you want to rehire this guy because this guy is an OK worker.

You haven't stated the policy clearly enough for yourself to act on it:

"Good guys can come back, chumps can't."

By re-hiring this guy you think the message going out is:
"Any one can come back."

So what? When one of the chumps goes and tries to come back you'll get the real message across.

On the other hand, if you don't rehire this guy the message that goes out will be:
"No rehires, no way, no how." and that is a message that could hurt you in future. Now in fact because not rehiring this guy is going to cost you more than rehiring and it won't send out the message you think you need to send.

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

RE: Rehiring Employee

I once had a coworker leave the company and come back in two weeks.  It was actually a big moral boost since the remaining employees were overloaded with work and we really liked the guy.  The returning employee brought back all these horror stories about the other company and made us all happy to be where we were.  Turns out he just misjudged the other employer and made a mistake.

BUT, I definitely agree with everyone else that it depends upon the character of the employee and whether or not his reasons for leaving in the first place have been resolved.

RE: Rehiring Employee

A rehire is not a bad idea. The person is a known quantity with most likely related experience valuable to the company. The best rehire is a past intern.

Some now hires made by one of my past companies have turned out to be disasters. They specialized in hiring unqualified individuals. That's what you see in small companies.

RE: Rehiring Employee

In my old company, we had a guy quit to work in construction as the foreman for a small outfit.  

He worked there for a week and quit there because the heavy machine operators were heavily using drugs and working drunk. He came back in less than a week and many people in the other departments never knew he had left.

We had a marketer that quit and came back for his job after the weekend.  Both of the staff have been recognized by corporate for their good works.  You should expect people who take their careers seriously to go through some internal crises in their lifetimes.

i don't see any mixed signals in rehiring.  supposedly, if the employee was not worth rehiring, he/she would not have left on their own free will in the first place.  Being rehired should eliminate many of the false expectations on both sides.  i.e. my friend had the false expectation of working in a safe and legal environment.

RE: Rehiring Employee

(OP)
Some great post folks!
I am definitely softening on my position to this issue.
Sometimes we (I) take things too personally, such as someone leaving for what they think is a better situation elsewhere.
Thank you all for some great thoughts.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources