Keeping new hires beyond the first year of employment

Organisations may need to do more to prevent new hires from taking the increasingly common route of returning to their previous employers.
By: | March 17, 2023
Topics: Compensation and Benefits | Employee Experience | News | Recruitment | Talent Management

Decisions made on the spur of the moment may lead to regret when individuals realise that they may not have made the best decision for themselves. These include “boomerang employees”, or those who decide to seek re-employment at the organisations they left in the first place.

For organisations who are concerned about new hires contemplating a return to their former employers, they can start by bridging the gap between recruitment promises and employee experience.

According to a study conducted by Visier and the UCL School of Management, organisations must work to align those doing the recruiting and hiring with the managers and co-workers most familiar with what the job entails.

Stay interviews should then be conducted during a new employee’s first few months to help managers identify and address misalignments arising from any gaps between expectations and reality.

READ: Overcoming the HR pitfalls leading to high employee turnover

With the study identifying that boomerang employees typically leave after the one-year mark, the authors also advised organisations to invest in engagement programmes specifically targeted as employees who are entering into their second year.

By this time, organisations should also move to offer a raise, promotion, or other meaningful career development opportunity for employees who are exceeding expectations or demonstrating signs of being able to do so, the study added.