‘Boomerang corps’ remains India Inc’s favourite workforce

This trend is currently prominent within sectors such as Financial Services, IT, Consulting, FMCG, Automotive, and Facility Management Services, as per data gathered by consulting firm CIEL HR. (Illustration by Suneesh Kalarickal)

With a hiring slowdown and increased competition for fewer jobs, the trend of boomerang employees refuses to taper down.

Major firms across sectors are witnessing a resurgence of the phenomena where ex-employees are trying to rejoin their old bosses with success.
Bellwethers like IBM, Lenovo, Compass Group India and Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB) are laying the red carpet for previous employees.

Similarly, staffing firms have also noticed that such an employee base is rising year-on-year (YoY) due to its cost-effectiveness and easy-to-assimilate factor.

Human resource executives have to spend less time identifying and reaching out to new talent. Besides, former employees come with the ‘know-how’ of the organisation he/she is supposed to join. Studies estimate that hiring boomerang employees can save between 33-67 percent in recruitment costs.

Consultancy, service sectors are the favourite destination

Compared to September 2022, staffing major Randstad saw a significant growth of around 20-25 percent in boomerang employees. These individuals had resigned within the last 24-36 months.

ALSO READ: Engineering freshers brace for fewer spots as placement firms look for specialised skills

According to Viswanath PS, MD & CEO, Randstad India, a reasonable number of these employees were actually high performers. This makes them attractive candidates for rehiring.

“The consultancy and services sector is currently most open to boomerang employees. Organisations in these sectors are open to welcoming former employees in higher-paying roles with managerial responsibilities, given that the individuals offer enough value-addition,” he said.

Forming a large employee base

Re-employing former team members remains an essential process of Compass Group India’s recruitment policy and the multinational food services firm has rehired over 2,500 former employees in just the past six months, a figure that remains consistent with the numbers from the same period last year.

“Boomerang employees are our biggest brand ambassadors. Once they return, we see them sharing their stories with others, and, hence, it becomes an attractive proposition for their colleagues, friends and family,” Manika Awasthi, Chief People Officer, Compass Group India, told Moneycontrol.

Lenovo has multiple examples of boomerang employees across levels in India, Asia-Pacific and worldwide teams and the company feels the trend is likely to continue in the coming years.

“As organisations become more competitive and the talent pool becomes tighter, companies will be looking for ways to attract and retain top talent, said HR Head Bhavya Misra, adding that boomerang employees are a valuable pool for companies, as they bring a wealth of experience, knowledge and commitment.

ALSO READ: India Inc hunts for Data Protection Officers to align with regulation

This trend is currently prominent within sectors such as Financial Services, IT, Consulting, FMCG, Automotive and Facility Management Services, as per data gathered by consulting firm CIEL HR.

Aditya Narayan Mishra, MD and CEO of CIEL HR Services feels these industries are keen on rehiring personnel who had clean exits, left for career advancement, or were unfortunately impacted by company-wide layoffs due to the pandemic.

Across roles

Boomerang employees are increasingly gaining positions not only in entry and mid-level roles but also across senior roles within organisations. This is driven by the fact that they come with unique advantages, including familiarity with the company, a proven track record, strong networks and their ability to contribute diverse perspectives.

Tech major IBM said it always had a significant population of former employees actively seeking to rejoin the company. This trend is especially prominent among middle and higher-level executives.

While interacting with boomerang employees, Thirukkumaran Nagarajan, VP and Head of HR of IBM India/South Asia, has observed them highlighting, “while competitive salary and perks are critical for professional growth, other factors like skilling, culture, purposeful work experiences etc., take precedence over pay after a certain point in their careers”.

Concerning people jumping out of HCCB due to involuntary attrition, the company continuously has a dialogue with them for two reasons: one is to understand what could be the push and pull factors and the second is to bring them back.

“There are many leaders (managerial-level) who've come back to HCCB. They left us, but we remained in touch, and we brought them back to HCCB,” Gaurav Sharma, Chief People Officer, said.

ALSO READ: Amid technological disruptions, IT professionals eye soft landing in auto sector

Even startups, such as battery-tech startup Log9 Materials, are still welcoming ex-employees as it reduces the man hours through the journey of sourcing, screening, negotiating an offer and finally the risk of dropping out closer to joining.

“On average, it would save up to 12 hours across recruiter and manager,” said Amulya Kulkarni, Head of People Success at Log9 Materials.