When I was working in HR for a large corporate company a former manager approached me and said he would like to work for our company again. I asked one of the Directors whether we may have a spot for him.
The Director was quick to respond. “We don’t want him back.”
What I heard from the Director that day I have heard about others wanting to go back to a previous employer. “Thanks, but no thanks.”
The reasons may be many, and the reasons may not be immediately apparent as to why a former employee, some of which have been previously stellar performers, are no longer welcomed back in the fold.
After an employee exists there can be plenty of things swept under the rug only to be discovered after they have left that departure lounge. Things an employee claimed were completed (that were not), unjust financials, or derogatory feedback from previous direct reports to name a few.
It is my belief, and hope, that the focus of any employee should ideally be, A) To leave the organisation in better shape than when they arrived, and B) When they leave the organisation they should conduct themselves with the same professionalism as when they arrived.
In the Australian Post-Job Keeper Covidian era work landscape there will continue to be extraordinary and unprecedented change. Jobs and people will be affected. Uncertainty and stress will be present. Positions may change. Positions may become redundant.
The same positions employees loose may resurface when the winds of economic change blow again. The question employees should ask themselves, whether they have exited a business or not is, “Will they have me back again?”
While the employers answer may hinge on their forward need, and of course, how well an employee performed previously, part of a company’s appetite to re-establish that working relationship is how an employee behaved when they exited.
Departing employees that finish tasks off to the best of their ability, organise comprehensive handovers, and diplomatically and professionally allow a communication strategy to be delivered to the workforce are better positioned to be reunited than those that exhibit opposite behaviours. (Subject of course to a number of legalities in play).
Also, leaders that create the opportunity for an employee subjected to change to be able to exit professionally is what a potentially returning employee may seek. Then again, leaders are not immune to their positions being subject to abolishment as well.
It may be fair to say at this stage then, every member of the workforce should ask themselves, “Will they have me back again?”