Why Rehire a Boomerang Employee?

What is a boomerang employee?

In human resources, a boomerang employee refers to someone who leaves a company and later returns after spending time with another employer. Upon their return, they may take back a similar position or move into a higher role, bringing new skills, knowledge, and experience gained in the meantime.

What really happens when a good employee leaves

A high-performing employee who leaves after two or three years with your company is rarely fleeing a bad employer. They’re looking for a point of comparison. They saw a more attractive offer from the competitor down the road, a higher starting salary, a promise of “better structure.”

And often, a few months later, reality catches up with the promise. The new shop floor isn’t better organized. The new boss doesn’t know their name, let alone their kids’ names. The perks promised in the interview don’t quite materialize as expected.

That’s when the phone might ring. The question is whether you’ll answer it.

What the numbers say about boomerang employees

The “boomerang” employee phenomenon, people who leave and then come back, is no longer marginal. According to ADP Research data, boomerang employees accounted for 35% of all new hires in the United States as of March 2025, up from 31% the previous year and 26% in 2022.

Even more important for an employer hesitant to rehire a former employee: the perceived risk doesn’t match the actual data. An analysis of over 15 million employee records, conducted by HR analytics firm Visier and reported by HR Morning, shows that boomerang employees have a 44% higher retention rate over their first three years than external new hires. The reasoning is that an employee who comes back has already compared, already made up their mind, and no longer needs to “test” your company. They know exactly what they’re getting into.

There’s also an operational advantage. A boomerang employee already knows your equipment, your methods, your shop floor culture. They don’t need to relearn how to run a machine or follow your safety procedures. According to data shared by SHRM, rehiring a former employee can cut the cost per hire in half and cut the time needed to reach full productivity by half compared to an external candidate.

Timing matters too. According to a Harvard Business Review analysis cited by The Interview Guys, 26% of boomerang employees return within seven months of leaving, and more than 75% return by month sixteen. Past that point, the odds of a return drop off sharply. In other words, the bond doesn’t break all at once, it fades over time.

Why rehiring a former employee makes sense

Quebec has been dealing with a skilled labor shortage for years. Finding an experienced CNC machinist on Fanuc or Mazatrol, a reliable industrial mechanic, or a competent HSE manager takes weeks, sometimes months. Starting that process from scratch every time an employee leaves, when a faster and lower-risk option already exists in your old HR files, doesn’t make economic sense.

An employee who comes back has seen the supposedly greener grass elsewhere. They now know your company knows their kids by name, that the flexibility they took for granted isn’t the norm everywhere, and that the “chaos” they were fleeing was actually a closeness they won’t find anywhere else. This experience often makes them a more stable and more engaged employee than a veteran who’s never had a point of comparison, and who might be dragging their feet every Monday morning without ever saying so.

When should you consider rehiring an employee who left?

A former employee isn’t automatically a good candidate for a return. The decision should be based on their track record with the company, how they left, and the value they can still bring today. That said, in several situations a boomerang employee can be an excellent opportunity:

• When the person was skilled and high-performing
  If the employee was strong in their role, met their goals, and contributed positively to the team, their departure shouldn’t erase the value they demonstrated.
• When the person left professionally
  An employee who gave proper notice, ensured a smooth transition, and left on good terms generally shows sound professional judgment.
• When their departure was for understandable reasons
  A relocation, a career change, a need to grow, or a significantly more attractive offer aren’t signs of poor commitment to the company.
• When they’re returning with new skills or experience
  An employee who comes back after gaining new knowledge, new technical expertise, or management experience can bring even more value than they did the first time around.
• When the relationship of trust remained intact
  If the former employee maintained good relationships with colleagues and managers, their reintegration will generally be much faster than a new hire’s.

When is it better to avoid rehiring a former employee?

Aside from the obvious cases, like when an employee was already a source of problems before they left, there are a few reasons that should push you toward a new candidate instead of a return.

• When the employee can’t articulate the real reasons they want to come back to your company specifically, and not just any other company.
  Are they coming back only because they couldn’t find anything better elsewhere? A return driven solely by a lack of alternatives risks leading to another short-lived stint.
• When the departure happened under bad circumstances
  Leaving without notice, a lack of professionalism, or an unresolved conflict are important red flags to consider.
• When the reasons behind their departure haven’t changed
  If the employee left because of a structural problem in the company (management, schedules, environment, pay) and nothing has improved, they risk leaving again.
• When their return would create a sense of unfairness within the team
  You also need to consider the impact on current employees, particularly if the former employee gets better conditions than those who stayed.

List of questions to ask a former employee who wants to come back

The goal is to tell the difference between someone who’s coming back because they’ve genuinely thought through what they want, and someone who’s coming back simply because they haven’t found anything better.

1. Why do you want to come back specifically to us, and not just return to the job market in general?
2. What has changed in your situation or your priorities since you left?
3. What have you learned or what skills have you developed since you left?
4. What did you miss most about working here, specifically?
5. What pushed you to leave at the time, and does that reason still exist on our end today?
6. If we haven’t changed on that specific point, how do you see the situation differently now?
7. How did your last few weeks before leaving go? Is there anything you’d like to add about how things ended?
8. Did you explore other options before reaching back out to us, or are we your only option?
9. What were your expectations at your last employer, and how weren’t they met?
10. What do you expect from us this time, whether in terms of role, salary, or conditions?
11. Are you comfortable taking back a similar position, or are you expecting a different or higher role?
12. How do you think your return will be perceived by the team, especially those who stayed?
13. What would you do differently this time to make it last?
14. If in six months you feel the urge to leave again, what would you do: talk to us about it, or leave quietly like last time?
15. What would make you want to stay here long-term, beyond just “the grass wasn’t greener elsewhere”?

Key takeaway

If an employee stayed with you for more than a year before leaving, it wasn’t personal. It was a business decision, one that was probably not easy to make. As a business owner, you know better than anyone what it takes to set the personal side aside to make a business decision. An employee who made that same calculation deserves to be seen the same way: not as someone untrustworthy, but as someone who made a business decision.

Recommendation

Don’t close the door on principle. Keep track of your good employees who leave, and if the phone rings, answer it. The question to ask yourself is this: have I built a company culture strong enough to make someone want to come back?

At Talentive, we see both sides of this reality every day: employers struggling to fill critical positions, and candidates who, after a detour, are looking to come back to an environment they already know. If you have a hard-to-fill position, let’s talk.

Sources:

• ADP Research, boomerang hiring data, March 2025
• Visier / HR Morning, boomerang employee retention analysis of 15 million records, 2025
• SHRM, data on rehiring costs and time to productivity
• Harvard Business Review, cited by The Interview Guys, boomerang employee return timelines