For some workers, it doesn’t matter how grim the economy is, how bleak the job market is, or how thankless their current job is. If they were laid off — especially during a pandemic — many workers would never dream of returning to the place that laid them off.
Tech companies have laid off nearly 245,000 employees this year alone, according to Trackers Layoffs are for reference onlySilicon Valley heavyweights like Meta and Salesforce led the way, each cutting thousands of jobs.
But the workers did not remain in defeat for long. Now, as the job market changes again, companies are competing for talent, and some are looking for the workers they just laid off. The real question is, what happens when these workers decide they don’t want them back?
More than half (58%) of the 6,000 professionals responded Recent Glassdoor polls Say they will never return to the company that fired them. Especially in the technology industry, only 46% of employees said they knew Boomerang. Men are more likely than women to consider flying back, and older workers are more open than younger workers.
“With the labor market softening over the past year … some regret is inevitable,” said Aaron Terrazas, chief economist at Glassdoor. wealth. As fears of a recession recede, some industries have begun to “cautiously” increase hiring, but “corporate reputations cast a long shadow.”
Terrazas added that the legacy of layoffs – and the way they were carried out – “could come back to haunt companies when the labor market pendulum inevitably swings back”. “Former employees can be a company’s most loyal fans or its harshest critics.” The outcome depends on the nature of the company.
Salesforce laid off about 10% of its workforce earlier this year, but now Chief Executive Marc Benioff is encouraging those people to apply to fill more than 3,000 open positions. “Our job is to grow the company and continue to be very profitable,” Benioff said in September. “We know we have to hire thousands of people.” He hopes a good portion of those people will become Boomerang. Benioff admitted that he tries to lure employees back by hosting “alumni events so that people who work at other companies can say – OK, come back.”
As for Meta, after laying off about a quarter of its employees, work has reopened and the company has even established a professional “Alumni Portal” For those who want to jump in line, Boomerang.
Why boomerangs make workers cringe
Leaving a job is fraught, especially when it is the worker’s decision. Eighty percent of employees who left their jobs during the so-called “Great Resignation” regretted it. To them, this would make Boomerang a little less conflicted and explain why Boomerang is on the rise across the board. But for workers who have no say in the matter, it’s certainly a difficult decision and one with little precedent.
On the anonymous employee forum Blind, a Stripe employee recently asked if layoff boomerangs were common. “I understand that if you are eliminated or laid off, you are basically added to the ‘do not hire’ list, but what happens with layoffs?” the poster wrote, referring to performance improvement plans. “Has anyone ever been fired and come back? Surprisingly, I’ve never seen that happen in my career.”
One Microsoft employee said they’ve seen this happen to “multiple engineers,” particularly those who were laid off during the Great Recession only to be rejoined about a year later. Some people were re-interviewed, but this was “just a formality.”
Granted, if employees can handle the early awkwardness, Boomerang can be a powerful move. Employees may already know the ropes and can skip the interview process entirely and not need to prove themselves or build a new relationship with their manager.
Of course, this also helps the company. Ryan Wong, chief executive of software company Visier, said: “Rehiring employees means saving on recruitment costs, onboarding and training costs, and they can learn new knowledge from their recent work experience.” wrote on LinkedIn last year. But a year later, workers were significantly less likely to consider flying back.if they Do Wong added that upon returning, they could expect an average salary increase of 25%. This leaves employers with a question: How much is your boomerang worth?
Svlook
