Celebrating the Comeback Kids

Back when I was teaching in an HR master’s degree program, one of my students was involved in a project at her company called The Comeback Kids. It’s a recruiting program that focuses on bringing back former employees, and it’s the sort of thing you should consider.

Having employees leave your firm is not necessarily a bad thing. They will have experiences that can make them better, and do so at no cost to you. By leaving they may get to try their hand at leadership, or work on a project requiring skills you have not required of them. Their new company may send them to training, whether to simply enhance some skills, learn some new ones, or earn a certification. They might even sponsor them for higher education. If nothing else, working in a new environment can enhance their creativity by exposing them to new perspectives. If you are able to lure these improved employees back to you later, then the benefits come to you rather than staying with your competitors.

Ideally, if they leave you for someone else, they are moving toward something, such as a cool opportunity, rather than away from something, such as you and your management style. If they are leaving for a positive reason, if they leave without hard feelings, then there is really nothing preventing them from wanting to come back, if you can offer them something worthwhile in the future.

How can you do that? Well, the important thing is to stay linked to them. Consider sending them an exit survey about a month after they leave, not only to get some useful feedback from them, but also to show you are still interested in what they have to offer. Try to stay connected through LinkedIn or Facebook, so there is always an open line of communication, plus you can see what they’ve been up to. If your employees are involved in local groups or associations, or even just happy hours, there is a chance to stay connected with them through these public venues. Some firms even have “alumni associations” to maintain closer contact with former employees. With a little effort you can keep a network of potential future recruits with whom you are already familiar.

Your alumni can even add value to your organization after they leave. Many companies offer incentives to their employees who refer successful candidates for new jobs. How about extending that opportunity to your alumni? One of the key reasons for referral programs is that candidates have been initially vetted by someone in a position to know if they fit into the company or not. Alumni (at least, fairly recent ones) offer the same benefit, so not only can they help your recruiting of new candidates, they also can continue to feel like part of the organization, which can make their return a lot easier if you try to bring them back.

Of course, it helps if they leave you on a positive note. The way you handle an employee’s departure will remain as one of the key memories they have of their time with you. If you yell and scream and call them a traitor, you can forget it. If you act professionally and respect their goals, you are more likely to maintain a good connection with them afterwards. Designing Leaders offers a seminar on managing employee departures effectively.

You do not necessarily want to stay connected with ALL of your former employees. Sometimes, when people leave, it’s better for you that they do. Look for those people whom you wish were staying, the ones for whom you would make a counteroffer or to whom you would give a retention bonus. If they still decide to leave, chances are you still want to be linked with them.

All of this will be pretty tough, by the way, if you are enforcing a “non-compete” clause in employment contracts. If your former employees know they are not supposed to be working in your industry for one of your competitors, they will not stay in touch with you for fear of being sued. You need to realize that people are going to leave your organization, and you should try not to stand in their way too much. The short-term benefit you think you get from a non-compete clause may cost you potential rehires in the future.

“Fluid” employment, moving from company to company, is not at all uncommon these days, and rather than seeing it as a problem, you should explore the benefits of it and see if you can capitalize upon them. Consider how The Comeback Kids can help you improve performance.