Comments on: Why you shouldn’t rehire a quitter

By: Doug

Doug — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:16:29 +0000

It depends on which side of the fence you are looking. There are valid reasons for leaving, and again for returning (like “Your company is such a great place to work, I would work there free.”)
I would consider returning to a former employer – it was that great of a place to work.
So often, we don’t really understand why people leave. Each case should be considered on the merit of their history/experience and the potential contribution.

By: john

john — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:20:02 +0000

I think that being an employer, in small community especially who does allot of rehiring is very dangerous. It gives off the imprecation that you are desperate and will take anyone that comes through the door even if that person has walked in and out of that door before. Sure they might have the skills that it took to do the job when they left but companies evolve and change everyday. I have rehired people that stay a week and they say I just can’t handle working here because things are so different. However no applicant should be turned away without consideration. After all, this person took enough time to consider your company. The way they leave and the attitude they come back with is everything. If a former returns as an applicant, with the attitude that you would be lucky to have them back. Watch out there not worth rehiring!

By: SS

SS — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:16:00 +0000

I did the re-hire thing once. The company had gone through a buyout which wasn’t handled well. I left because I couldn’t abide by the shabby treatment of our employees and customers. After several months, the company asked me to come back. They had more or less hit rock bottom and were trying to rebuild. They knew & appreciated my skills and I knew exactly what to expect. It was a win-win. I stayed with them for another two years before moving out of state for family reasons.

Each situation has to be addressed individually. The circumstances and reasons have to be right. Coming back to a former employer does have a little bit of that “I couldn’t make it on the outside” feel to it. That can be tough to overcome, for the employee and the company.

By: Loretta

Loretta — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:19:58 +0000

Our office has around 55 employees. 13 of those are rehires. Some left because they relocated and then returned. Some had what they thought were better job offers, and some left because of prior management. We have had many more who wanted to come back, but we only rehired those who did an excellent job the first time around. Sometimes a person has to try something else to realize how good they had it to begin with. This time, they truly appreciate the work environment they have here and they are some of our best employees.

By: Lynn Ware

Lynn Ware — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:10:10 +0000

We rehired a worker who left to raise her children. Now the children are in school during the day. This person is the same wonderful contributor now as she was 8 years ago and we are thrilled to have her back.

By: Lori

Lori — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:09:04 +0000

Over the past several years, we’ve had more than a few employees leave and ask to return – usually they didn’t realize how good they had it with our healthcare company. Typically they miss the people, the culture, and the autonomy they had among other things. Some we’ve rehired and some we haven’t – it depends on the circumstances of their departure. If we were sorry to see them leave, sure we’ll hire them back in a heartbeat. But we’ll also have a conversation about why they left and returned and what our expectations are going forward. In general, the rehires have worked out very well – I can only recall one regretable situation.

By: Linda Bambino

Linda Bambino — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:19:52 +0000

Retention in our business can be difficult, and we, along with our clients hate a revolving door. Although we have a certain number of employees leave for a variety of reasons, there are some that we welcome back with open arms, because we know their work ethic and skill level. The ones who have come back to us seeking employment have stated that they were always treated with respect and treated fairly by management. That even goes for those former employees who are not eligible for rehire because they have been terminated or quit without notice. Perhaps that is because we not only have an open communication policy – we practice it.

By: michael

michael — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:59:22 +0000

From my experience it has good influence on other empoyees-returning means you chose to come back to the best alternative.
It depends of course on the quality of the employee and the time he worked before(at least 3-4 years)

By: John

John — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:17:13 +0000

We used to re-hire people who quit or were terminated until it became, as some above put it, a safety net. Now we CONSIDER re-hiring a person 12 months AFTER his/her termination, and then it has to be approved at upper mgmt level.

If the ex-employee attempts to come back within the 12 month period, we say “Sorry.” If after that time, s/he must complete an application and, if the super of the dept is interested, go through an interview. Upper manager is then consulted. We look at the reasons for the original termination, what the person has been doing since, and whether the receiving super wants to take a chance. If upper mgmt approves, we extend an offer. They do start all over again, like a newbie off the streets. We do consider their work experience, as we do all applicants, when deciding salary.

By: Diane

Diane — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:28:02 +0000

I think a company has to consider their location – our TN employees leave and come back much more frequently than our WA employees. I have been told it is part of the culture. In TN we try to limit the rehires but some of the employees really know our parts and we take them back as often as we can as long as they follow our procedures while they are working for us – this includes a two week notice (no notice, no rehire) For both our plants rehiring still depends greatly on how the employee left and like Lucy considered in her decision, how they talked about the company while they were gone.