On Careers

Why You Should Never Hire a Quitter Back

February 2, 2010 RSS Feed Print

Comment (14)
Tweet

GL Hoffman

While I have had good and bad luck with this idea, more often than not, you create more problems for yourself if your company has a practice of hiring quitters back.

[See how to love the job you're with.]

I have found that if it gets known within your company that you take quitters back, you will have even more people quit. Most will leave for legitimate reasons. But some will quit for greener pastures--just to see if the other company is better, if they'll like their boss better, or some other flimsy reason.

If they know you will hire them back, it is awfully tempting to leave, if only to test their value. I prefer to let it be known that if they quit, we will not hire them back under any circumstances.

If they leave your team now, for any reason but to join the Army Reserves or the Peace Corps, I would not hire them back. Your company should not be a safety net.

What has your experience been?

G. L. Hoffman is a serial entrepreneur and venture investor/operator/incubator/mentor. Two of his companies have traveled the entire success path from the garage to IPO. Currently, he is chairman of JobDig, which operates LinkUp, one of the fastest-growing job search engines. His blog can be found at WhatWouldDadSay.com.

Tags:: careers

« Previous Post Next Post »

Reader Comments Read all comments (14)

Add Your Thoughts Comment Name State Email

Please enter the two words below into the text field underneath the image.

Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.

I think it depends on the circumstances under which the employee left and the quality of experience/exposure gained after he left and the reasoning why he/she wants to come back.
I had a super star employee who left because he felt 'tapped out'. To his credit, he had several discussions with me and my boss about his career for a good 1 year before he left. I really wanted to promote him but my management had its own issues, not with the employee but they were themselves insecure about how long they'd be around.
Finally my star guy quit and joined a much larger company for a much larger role. He has apparently done very well there and has multiplied his management experience and industry knowledge.
Post his leaving, he has maintained good contact with me and most recently he mentioned his interest in coming back because he likes the fast paced and innovative nature of our company and also how the location will help his commute.
You know I am going to bat for him, if he solidifies his desire to come back. I also think he deserves to come back at a significantly higher level not because I am saying it, but because he is already handing significant responsibilities at our competitor. Some of the staff here my resent but lets face it, he was a super star who took the risk of quitting, went through the pains of integrating into a new corporate culture, gained a whole lot of experience so all in all, why should we say no!

john sykashan of AR 6:49PM March 20, 2011

... and won three more NBA championships with Michael Jordan in the 90s. The two seasons that "Mike" was trying out baseball (compare that to going back to college in a previous post, or trying another industry for a while) the Bulls couldn't make it past the second round of playoffs. With your hard-and-fast rule, you don't allow the greatest player in NBA history to come back to your team. Fine, let him go play for the Pacers where he can kick your #$# multiple times per year.
I am a man of principle, and certain behavior cannot be tolerated even by superstars, but a rule for the sake of having rules is not wise in all cases.

Scottie Mac of SC 10:31PM November 17, 2010

I had 1 employee take a 2 year sabbactical to go back to school and study a new field. The new field did not pan out for work - green energy does not pay that well if you aren't an engineer! It gave him a new appreciation of the job and benefits he had and I was glad to take him back as I have several people in my group retiring this year and next. He knows the job, has an excellent work ethic, and knows our very complex computer system.

Carole of CO 6:44PM June 30, 2010