Late 2024 marked the start of a period known as “The Great Stay,” as the number of employees changing jobs fell to a record low. Enter the boomerang hire: With employees not looking to relocate, companies turned to their past employees to fill open positions. For employees, returning to their former employers felt less risky than starting with a new company.
There’s been a big increase in boomerangs, who now account for more than a third of new hires in some industries, according to ADP Research.
Ten Years After
When Shannon Gehringer made the decision to return to the meetings industry after a five-year hiatus, she set her sights on her former employer, BCD Meetings & Events, where she had worked for two years a decade before.
Since she left, she has remained in touch with her contacts there, including in human resources. She had pursued her dream of living in Paris, where she found a job at Lafayette Group DMC, then returned to the U.S. and began working in real estate.
But the meetings industry was calling her, and a month ago, she posted on LinkedIn that she was seeking to return. BCD was looking for a program manager, and he just accepted the position and will start her new job in early September.
“Their leadership, the caliber of their clientele, the way they support their employees — those were all the reasons I wanted to go back,” she said. “It feels like I’m returning to my childhood home.”
Another planner, who did not want to be named, says he left a different meeting planning agency for a position that offered more money, then was able to return at a higher salary after working at two other companies. “It was refreshing to restart in my old workplace with more respect from peers and management,” he said. “A lot of people appreciated that I had gained knowledge and experience.”
However, he admits that a few colleagues were not as welcoming. “They resisted acknowledging me as anything other than the junior that I was when I first started. There was some animosity about the way I skipped up the ranks by changing companies and coming back.”
Positives Outweigh the Negatives
In addition to better compensation, boomerang employees often end up working with the same colleagues and managers. Onboarding takes less time because they already know the people and the ropes. It also feels like less of a risk because they’re familiar with the corporate culture, so there are no surprises.
Dan Goodman of Dan Goodman Employment Advisory tells boomerangers to make sure that they negotiate their tenure. “If you worked there for three years, left, and a year or two later you were rehired, the prior three years of your employment should count toward your tenure moving forward.”
Benefits for the Hiring Company
Tina Madden, CEO of Meetings & Incentives Worldwide, says she has had positive experiences hiring boomerang employees. “They bring both familiarity and fresh perspective. They already understand our values and operations, which shortens the onboarding curve, and their outside experiences often enrich our team with new ideas and insights.”
Madden views boomerangs as a testament to her company’s culture. “When someone chooses to return, it speaks volumes about the environment we’ve built — and we consider that a win.”
