How to rehire employees

You must have certainly come across an instance wherein a former colleague of yours joined your company after having worked elsewhere. Does this surprise you! Why is it that the employee who left the company for a better pay package is willing to join his former company?

Mostly, employees quit for a better organization due to personal reasons such as pay hike, career growth, flexible working hours and other reasons. It is to be noted that if you share a good rapport with your former manager or HR personnel then chances are there that you can be welcomed back in your former company.

Benefits of Rehire

In the present uncertain scenario, the HR is increasingly adopting innovative ways of recruiting skilled manpower who deliver best results for the organization. One such method is that of rehiring former employees. Indeed, it sounds unbelievable! But, rehire has its own benefits. Primarily, the employee is familiar with the work culture of the company and will thus easily get attuned with the company environment. Moreover, the employee returns with enhanced experience, knowledge and adds value to the company.

The HR personnel needs to keep in mind few points to ensure that the process of rehiring candidates turns out to be a win-win situation for both the company and the former employee.

• Maintaining an Efficient Database of Employees: It is vital for the HR of your company to maintain an efficient database of employees. This should include all categories of employees such as on payroll, contractual, freelancer or even a consultant. You should have their updated contact details in your record so that you can keep them posted about the latest developments and any vacancies coming up in your company.
• Formulate a Rehire Policy: The HR of your company needs to formulate a rehire policy in order to ascertain clearly the criteria for rehiring former employees. For instance, an employee who left the company due to violation of company policies, poor performance or due to allegation of misconduct will not be rehired again.In simple words, a list of guidelines has to be prepared to ease the process of rehiring former employees for your company.
• Schedule an Interview before completing the Rehiring Process: The HR of your company should ensure that the former employee gets interviewed just like any other new hire candidate. In the interview, you can cross-check the reasons given by the former employee for making his exit from the company. In addition, you will get to know about the experience and knowledge that he has acquired during this time which would be useful to your company.
• Reboarding: The reboarding process is the way of reintroducing the former employees to the ways in which the company has been functioning all these years since the employee left the company. Moreover, since the outbreak of Covid-19, several companies have reformulated their policies and procedures.The HR personnel would need to introduce the former employee to the following features of the company:
  • The latest technologies and softwares being used in-house
  • Office working hours along with work from home policy
  • Collaboration with team members

  All this can be done easily by incorporating the former employee in the existing onboarding process involving the new recruits.

• Open Deliberation about Compensation and Benefits: Once the HR of your company has been satisfied with the interview process of the former employee, it is time to hold discussion about compensation and benefits. Moreover, it is advisable to be candid with the former employee as the latter might be expecting a senior position in the company. Else, the employee could be on the lookout for a far better package than that in hand.

In simple words, the HR has to absolutely clear with the former employee in terms of compensation and additional benefits which the company would offer him in case of a rejoin.

Therefore, to conclude, the idea of rehiring former employees is indeed catching up in India. For instance, companies like Tata have a track record of hiring former employees back into its organization. Moreover, the Covid-19 scenario has prompted the employers to bring back former employees (especially who left with a good rapport) in their organization.