In a nutshell, its when a former employee bounces back to a previous employer.
One trend complements the other.
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Research also backed up workers rationales to ditch the day job and look elsewhere.
According toPew Research Center, 60% of workers switching jobs saw an increase in their real earnings.
But there is a sizable cohort of people for whom that job switch hasnt worked out as planned.
No regrets?
UKG, a workforce management platform,ran a survey across six countriesin 2022.
So can you ever go back?
Professor of management Michael A. Campion looked at boomerang employees for a research paper called Welcome Back?
Job Performance and Turnover of Boomerang Employees Compared to Internal and External Hires, in theJournal of Management.
Changing mindset
There is evidence that employers were softening on this even before Covid-19.
A 2015 study commissioned byThe Workforce Instituteshowed a changing mindset around re-hires.
Back then, 76% of HR professionals said they were more accepting of hiring boomerang employees than before.
However, boomerang employees often dont excel when they bounce back to a former employer.
Results suggest that boomerang managers performance tends to remain the same after being rehired, he says.
The first thing to do for the future is to always keep things cordial.
If youre still close to your previous boss, schedule a lunch or a coffee break.
Tell them whats going on, and explore whether theres any opportunity for you to return.
Its common to panic and want to go back to what you know.
But do ask yourself some hard questions too.
Do you want to return because its an easy option?
Think about your previous experience with the companyand what motivated you to leave in the first place.
