As attrition during the first year of employment spikes and labor markets remain tight despite negative GDP growth, organizations are discovering that the employee relationship doesn't have to end at offboarding. Attrition during the first year of employment has spiked over the past two years, with Perceptyx research showing that 6 in 10 employees who recently left their roles feel regret about the decision.
At the same time, employers still looking to fill jobs in a labor market that remains surprisingly tight despite GDP growth might see value in rehiring some of their departed staff. As employee tenure has decreased, the value of relationship building post-exit has become more obvious, as emphasized by LinkedIn’s first CHRO and Cadigan Talent Ventures founder Steve Cadigan in a recent keynote.
Perceptyx panel research of more than 1,000 working Americans shows that extending employee lifecycle surveys beyond exit surveys to include alumni surveys of former workers provides a clear competitive advantage. These alumni surveys, sometimes called “after-lifecycle” surveys, engage employees who have ended their employee lifecycle with a given organization. They can help you improve the existing employee experience by offering data-driven insights into the reasons these employees left.
After-lifecycle surveys can also serve as a powerful recruitment tool for “boomerang” employees. Perceptyx research found that on average, employees would consider returning to 72% of the employers they had over the past five years given the right opportunity.
Finding ways to pull former employees back into your organization offers a tremendous return on investment. Former employees leave for many reasons: to pursue career growth or higher pay, to explore a different industry, or to focus on a major life event like caregiving or relocation. When those circumstances change, or when a new role doesn't meet expectations, many of these workers are open to returning. The number of these employees spiked during the Great Recession.
Recent data highlights the growing trend of "boomerang" employees: a BBC deep dive into LinkedIn data found
UK Market: 5% of all new hires in 2021 were returning employees.
US Market: Boomerangs accounted for 4.3% of hires in 2021, up from 2% in 2010.
Increased Velocity: The average return time dropped from 21.8 months (2010) to 17.3 months (2021).
Boomeranging, a practice formerly held in low regard by employers reluctant to rehire employees thought to be “job hopping,” has become more widely accepted. Though long over, the pandemic imposed numerous constraints, from childcare to safety concerns to inflation-driven financial pressures, all of which increased attrition and led to tight labor pools in key areas.
Of course, rehiring former employees comes with considerations. Returning workers may need time to acclimate if management, policies, or team dynamics have shifted since their departure. They may also not be the strongest fit for every open role, regardless of their past performance. That makes the listening component essential. Perceptyx research has shown that when attributes of the Employee Value Proposition most attractive to employees are being met, employees are more likely to stay. Putting those attributes in place the second time around could make a significant difference in terms of boomerang retention.
The value of rehires also has support in the academic literature. A recent study of 2,053 new hires and 10,858 new hires in the Academy of Management Journal found that returning employees consistently outperformed new employees, with the majority of that benefit accruing to the employer during the first two years after rehire — a measure of how significant onboarding, training, and ramp-up costs are for new hires relative to returning employees. Additionally, these boomerangs can return to their original employers with a deeper knowledge of competitor practices and the overall state of the industry in which they work. Their return also sends a signal to the rest of the organization: this is a place worth coming back to. When companies openly welcome returning employees, those boomerangs can become ambassadors who reinforce loyalty and commitment across the broader workforce.
After-lifecycle surveys give organizations a structured way to access their alumni talent pool and capture insights that exit surveys alone cannot provide. Conducting these surveys six months after an exit hits the sweet spot: enough time has passed for former employees to compare their new experience against their old one, and many who left for personal or circumstantial reasons may already be open to returning. This timing also captures employees who are experiencing the common 'grass isn't always greener' realization at their new employer."
After-lifecycle surveys could be automated so that an invite is triggered based on the termination date in the employee’s HRIS file. To capture a sufficiently large pool of respondents, you would want to ensure this invite is sent to everyone who was voluntarily terminated and had good/high performance ratings.
Protip: Make sure you are capturing a valid personal email address and/or phone number as part of your off-boarding process, particularly for regrettable losses, as a way to build a target audience for future alumni listening.
The optimal employees to include in after-lifecycle surveys would be:
Employees who voluntarily left the organization between 1-3 years ago
Employees who were top performers or potential high performers
Employees who served in mission-critical roles or have specialized skills
After-lifecycle surveys can uncover the current engagement levels of these former employees with an item that addresses their intention to return to a previous employer: “I would consider returning to [The Company] in the next twelve months if given the opportunity.” This data could be further filtered along the lines of gender and race/ethnicity, and even compared with prior data on their engagement in the organization to see if they are more or less engaged with their new employer.
All of this data, in turn, leads to the generation of key drivers that predict “intent to return”, an enormous strategic benefit in the competition for industry-specific talent. After-lifecycle surveys can also revisit questions assessed on prior exit surveys to understand how perceptions may have changed since the individual departed your organization.
A carefully designed after-lifecycle survey supports two priorities at once: continuous improvement of the employee experience and ongoing recruiting. The data these surveys generate can reveal gaps in your Employee Value Proposition, highlight what competitors do well, and identify which former employees are open to returning.
Recommended items for an effective after-lifecycle survey could include:
“The industry I work in now is comparable to the one I worked in at [The Company].”
If it is not, an open-ended question can be asked: “What is the primary reason you chose to leave this industry?”
“The role I have now is comparable to the one I had at [The Company].”
If it is not, another open-ended question can be asked: “What is the primary reason you chose to change the type of role in which you work?”
“Please select the main reason you chose to work for your current employer.”
This could be followed by a dropdown list that includes benefits and perks as an option, as well as an open-text area to specify what the benefit/perk is. This approach can be especially valuable if you are interested in building or amending your employee value proposition through the input of regrettable attrition.
“Would you be open to someone at [The Company] reaching out to you about open positions we have now or in the future?”
If yes is selected, the respondent would be prompted to provide their phone number, email address, and other pertinent contact information.
“Now that you’ve had some time away from working at [The Company], is there anything else that has come to mind that you would like to share with us about your experience here?” (open-ended question)
“What does your new employer do better than [The Company]?” (open-ended question)
“What did [The Company] do better than your current employer?” (open-ended question)
To summarize, the aims of after-lifecycle surveying highlighted here are:
Understanding why the employee left the industry, if they did so.
Determining what the employee thought about their experience with your organization, given the benefit of some time and distance (e.g., six months) to inform their perspective.
Learning what a new employer organization might be doing better or worse than yours, according to former employees. (This information is obviously more valuable if the other employer is in the same industry.)
Communicating to alumni — potential boomerang candidates — the message that:
They are not forgotten,
Their feedback is valued (returning employees offer an outside-in perspective on what makes your workplace stand out and where there's room to grow),
Their potential return is welcomed when the opportunity is right for both the individual and the organization.
A boomerang employee is someone who leaves a company and later returns to work there again, either in a similar role or a new one. Common reasons for returning include finding that a new job didn't meet expectations, resolving personal circumstances that led to the original departure (such as caregiving or relocation), or spotting a better-fit opportunity at a former employer after gaining new skills elsewhere.
More common than most employers expect. BBC research using LinkedIn data found that boomerang employees accounted for 4.3% of all US hires in 2021, compared to just 2% in 2010. They're also returning faster: the average US boomerang worker came back in 17.3 months in 2021, down from 21.8 months a decade earlier. A separate report found that while boomerang workers make up just 2% of active employees, they account for nearly 31% of new hires.
It depends on whether the original reasons for leaving have been resolved. If core issues remain unchanged, returning employees are likely to leave again for the same reasons. When those conditions improve, the data is more encouraging: a study published in the Academy of Management Journal found that boomerang hires consistently outperformed new employees, with most of that performance advantage showing up in the first two years after rehire. Running after-lifecycle surveys before re-engaging former employees helps identify what drove their departure and what would need to change to support a lasting return.
Boomerang employees already know your culture, processes, and team, so they need less onboarding time and can contribute faster than new hires. They often return with new skills and direct knowledge of how competitors operate. A study published in the Academy of Management Journal found that returning employees consistently outperformed new hires, with the strongest performance advantage in the first two years after rehire. Recruiting and training a boomerang also typically costs less than sourcing a net-new candidate.
Today, as hiring has slowed and labor markets have tightened, boomerang employees offer a strategic advantage that new hires simply can't match. You already know their work quality, cultural fit, and performance track record, thereby eliminating much of the risk that comes with external recruiting. In a stagnant market where top talent is harder to find and vet, rehiring proven performers becomes a faster, lower-risk path to filling critical roles. Some organizations that conducted layoffs in recent years are now bringing former employees back as contractors, recognizing that institutional knowledge and established trust are too valuable to lose. When external pipelines dry up, your alumni network becomes one of your most reliable talent sources.
Your employee alumni, especially regrettable losses, represent one of the lowest-risk talent pools available. These former employees already know your organizational culture, systems, and expectations. They require less onboarding, reach productivity faster, and bring back outside perspective that strengthens your teams. Many are open to returning when the opportunity is right.
Perceptyx has the knowledge, consulting expertise, and AI-powered platform to help you access this untapped resource and capture all of the data and perspectives that your former employees can provide. Schedule a meeting to learn more about adding after-lifecycle surveys to your employee listening program.