A boomerang employee is someone who leaves a company and is later hired back. For seasonal and shift-based businesses, they are often the fastest and cheapest hires available.
A landscaping company lets 14 seasonal workers go each November. In March it needs 12 back. Eight of last year’s crew are marked eligible for rehire. They know the routes, the equipment and the clients, so their onboarding is one day of safety refresher instead of the five days a new hire gets.
EZTime digital HR forms let you send, sign and file employee documents online.
At $18 an hour, the four training days saved per rehire are 32 hours, or $576 per person in paid training time, plus the lead’s time. Across 8 rehires, that is $4,608 in trainee wages alone. The company still treats each one as a rehire in payroll: new state new hire report, updated W-4 if anything changed, and the rehire steps for Form I-9.
Rehiring starts on the day someone leaves. Record at exit whether the person is eligible for rehire and why, in a field anyone can read later, not in a manager’s memory. Thank them, ask in the exit conversation whether they would consider coming back, and keep current contact details if they agree.
A short, friendly check-in a few months later, for example before the busy season, reaches people while their new job is still fresh and they are comparing it with yours. Former employees who were treated well on the way out are much more likely to answer.
A home care agency’s nurse leaves for a hospital job. Eight months later, she contacts the agency asking about part-time work. Her exit record says eligible for rehire, strong client feedback.
The agency offers her the part-time schedule she wants at the current rate for her role, bridges her prior service for PTO accrual under its rehire rule, and completes the new hire paperwork. She is seeing clients in a week instead of the four weeks a new nurse needs, and two of her former clients ask for her by name.
They need less training, already know the work and the team, and are less likely to leave in the first weeks. For seasonal businesses, they can make spring hiring much faster.
Check the exit record, talk to their former manager and ask what changed. If the reason they left has been fixed, a rehire is often a strong hire.
It depends on your policy, any union contract and, for some benefits and leave, the law. Decide it in writing before the rehire starts.
Yes. Federal law requires reporting new and rehired employees to the state within 20 days of hire, and some states require it sooner.
Record it at exit with a reason. Review that record and the person’s history before making an offer.
Usually a shorter process is enough, focused on what changed and why they want to return, plus any checks your policy requires for all hires.
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