Feature

The return of an ex-employee

Faiz Askari finds out why most organisations are eager to welcome back their former employees.

Constantly changing technology, customer requirements, competitive business scenario and mushrooming opportunities in the market makes it difficult for an organisation to retain its employees. One of the best options for employers is to recall their former employees—people who have been happy working with the organisation in the past and know its culture well. Employers promise job security and a steady progression up the hierarchy in return for good performance and loyalty.

There are several doubts in an employee’s mind before accepting a job offer with a former employer. A few believe that it would be difficult to adjust oneself in the organisation’s environment which they have already left. But most do not think there is any problem in rejoining a former company if they had left it in good terms.

The factors why an employee leaves an organisation are the same, even when they want to rejoin a previous company. These are:

• Good career prospects
• Salary hike
• Problems or unsatisfied with present boss
• Better brand name
• Need for a change in job profile
• Cross-functional change

Impact of the trend

"The employee by the virtue of his earlier stay, will fit into the company's culture and way of working from day one and there would be an all round productive benefit" - J P Santhanam Director SecureSynergy

The organisation, which owns the job, invests in the employee, provides work that stretches its people’s capabilities and makes sure that work adds value to both the individual and the business. The employee, who owns his or her career, invests initiative, contributes ideas and demonstrates capabilities. The employer and employee face the market together, and the longevity of the partnership depends on how well the organisation meets market needs. Neither the employer nor the employee has a future obligation to the other. Knowing that it would be irresponsible to promise lifetime employment, the organisation instead assists employees in developing the kind of security they really need—increased employability. The employer provides opportunities to learn new skills. Employees earn rewards on the basis of accomplishments and contributions. The partnership can be dissolved without either party considering the other a traitor. Employees who leave can rejoin the organisation later, without embarrassment, if their new skills and the organisation’s new priorities once again coincide.

The important question is: What is the indication when any ex-employee rejoins the organisation? J P Santhanam, Director, SecureSynergy says, “The company has been successful in being viewed as being ethically and professionally a good organisation to work for. That it has a culture of professional learning and discipline which is good for both personal and professional growth.”

Expressing his views on whether this is a positive or a negative trend for the industry, Santhanam adds, “It is a positive trend. And I say this because if this becomes a norm in the industry, it will actually reflect a mature and evolved HR attitude. It will be good for companies to get back the employee, about whom they already have a fairly good knowledge, and the employee too by the virtue of his earlier stay, will fit into the company’s culture and way of working from day one and there would be an all round productive benefit.”

Abhay N Rao, VP-HR, Kenexa, supporting this trend says, “When current employees see former ones rejoin an organisation, they feel confident that the company does not hold grudges and treats each case on merit. It also conveys a very strong message that the organisation is forward looking and can effectively deal with the past to learn and improve.”

Rao however adds, “The action conveys a very good message in all respects if the process is well-handled. In most cases, employees who look to rejoin the organisation come back because they see the company as a better choice and this drives home a strong signal to existing employees that not every change is necessarily for better prospects. It is a healthy trend for the industry because it takes some courage for both the organisation and the individual to execute such a step and hence both are more committed to making it work.”

Employee loyalty

Meanwhile, employees are finding that the skills they had developed while being loyal are no longer valuable. They have become more entrepreneurial, continually reassessing their priorities and strengths, maintaining their personal and professional networks, and developing a portfolio of marketable skills. To stay in charge of their careers, they are, by necessity, committing themselves to a lifetime of learning and exploring new possibilities. They cannot wait for jobs and promotions to be handed to them.

Santhanam of SecureSynergy states, “Loyal employees also need to move horizontally and vertically in a competitive and challenging environment. What I feel is that loyalty should be measured in terms of whether an employee spends an adequate amount of time with a company, contributes gainfully, imbibes the correct professional and ethical values from the parent organisation and disengages after completing his assigned responsibility in a mutually agreed upon manner.”

He states that after having left another company the employee is professionally competent, motivated to give 100 percent to the task in hand, is capable of knowing the right from the wrong and has the courage to choose correctly. “That’s the loyalty that I understand and want employees to cultivate.”

However, some years back, loyalty was an important role, but looking at the present scenario it no longer contributes to the competitiveness of the organisation. When an organisation is enjoying affluence, it can afford to keep people whose contributions are not directly related to the mission. But on the other hand, when it finds itself using up wealth rather than creating it, loyalty becomes a dinosaur.

Without a constant infusion of fresh ideas, new skills and diverse perspectives, an organisation becomes inward-focussed, static and homogeneous. Constructive contention, which breeds innovation and creativity, is suppressed. Instead of assuring a secured future, which is rather difficult, the more successful way to gain and sustain an employee’s loyalty could be through encouraging managers and employees to sit down and talk about what, exactly, the organisation should be (its vision) and what it should be doing (its mission).

Corporate policy on re-joining

Commenting on the fact that there is a requirement for a corporate policy to attract ex-employees and make them join the organisation again, Rao says, “On a long-term it would in the best interest of the organisation to have one. If there are no clear guidelines and no policy, the process can be often misused and can convey wrong signals. The organisation needs to be very clear what type of employees will find a place back, and most often this depends on how and under what circumstances the employee had left.”

Is it necessary for a company to have a written policy on re-joining of employees? “Yes, it is important for a company to have a clear and visible corporate policy. This will be evident in the ability, conviction and the courage of the management to understand an employee as a human being with all its complex emotions and requirements and addressing them to the best of its ability,” answers Senthanam.

Retention rate

It is important to analyse whether rejoining of employees has a positive impact on the retention rate of that organisation. Senthanam says, “To term it as a tool for retention would be incorrect. The company and the management should be convinced and believe in it as an instrument of good corporate governance rather than as a tool or a HR trick for retention of employees. A company can only create a certain ambience—an environment where loyalty can be expressed by its employees and thereafter nurtured. Opportunities and challenges are not enough for retaining any employee. Training is just not the solution.”

A company needs to be consistent with its ethical and corporate practices and strive through good hiring processes to attract the right people. “Out of this relationship between the employer and the employee, the ground rules and definition of loyalty will be written automatically,” claims Senthanam.

Rao denies that re-joining of ex-employees can improve the retention rate in that organisation, “No, if it is used in the narrow perspective as a retention tool, it will have no value. The organisation needs to have a good policy and process in this regard, but the same will be diluted if they try to capitalise on it by proclaiming it as a retention tool. A good retention tool always aims at eliminating those factors which make employees want to leave, not on getting them back.”

It is true that new relationships can evolve from old ones. For example, as members of each other’s networks, a manager and an ex-employee can help each other find what they truly need. Such new paradigms provide a much more viable basis for employer-employee relationships than the now unworkable ideas about long-term entitlements.

Moreover, it is important to realise that unless the new contract is made explicit, managers and employees may continue to operate under the old assumptions and then be demoralised when their expectations are not met. This does not mean that a written contract must be signed and vetted through the legal department. It merely means that employers and employees need to face up to today’s reality, then communicate until it is clear that they have reached a shared understanding.