September 24, 2026
Hi Everyone,
When a former employee asks to come back, it feels like the safest hire you can make. You know their work, they know the company.
The largest study on rehiring, which followed over 30,000 managers, says that feeling is half right. Rehires performed at the same level as before they left, so the person you remember is the person you get. But they were twice as likely to leave again compared to external hires, usually for the same reason as the first time.
So the real work is checking whether that reason is gone. Today we're covering three questions to answer before you say yes.
1. Why did they leave, and is that reason gone?
Read the exit notes before you reply to the message. If the pay, the manager, or the workload that made them leave is still in place, they will meet the same problem again.
Fix the reason first, or don't make the offer.
2. What changed while they were away, them or us?
The main thing a rehire brings is that they know how your company works. Cornell researchers found this is exactly why rehires beat new hires early on in terms of performance.
But that knowledge describes the company as it was on their last day. If you've reorganized, replaced their manager, or changed how the work runs, that advantage is mostly gone.
In this case, treat them like any external candidate, with a full interview round and proper onboarding.
3. What does the offer say to the people who stayed?
Before the offer goes out, compare it with what people at that level earn today. Returning employees often come back with a better deal — in Visier's analysis of three million employee records, some got pay rises of up to 28%.
Your team can do that math. If leaving and coming back pays better than staying, you've shown your best people the fastest way up, and some of them will take it.
A hiring manager won't flag this, because their job is to fill the seat. It lands on your desk. If the returning employee would earn more than the people who stayed, either raise your team first or rethink the terms.
Isn't a returning employee good news?
It can be. Someone choosing to come back tells your team that the company holds up well against the market, and it saves you months of searching and onboarding.
These three questions don't argue against rehiring. They cover the parts of the decision that fond memories skip. When the reason for leaving is gone, the team they knew is still there, and the offer treats the people who stayed fairly, a rehire gives you a proven person who is productive in weeks.
Go deeper
👉 Purdue University: Here's what employers need to know about 'boomerang' employees vs. new hires — read this for the full study behind today's numbers, explained in plain language by one of its authors.
👉 Cornell ILR School: The Benefits of Hiring "Boomerangs" — read this to see when a returning employee gives you a real edge, in the researchers' own words.
👉 MIT Sloan Management Review: Boomerang CEOs: What Happens When the CEO Comes Back? — read this before cheering a founder's comeback; returning CEOs underperformed by 10% per year compared to first-timers.
👉 Business Insider: Want the biggest pay rise? Become a boomerang worker — use this to see the return-pay numbers your own team may be reading about.
Coming up tomorrow
Tomorrow, we’ll cover the small circle of advisors the best CEOs keep, plus a simple exercise that shows who's missing from yours.
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading.