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As we know, The Great Resignation brought about because of the pandemic, has had an impact on the travel sector and so many roles still remain unfilled. Why were there so many resignations? What made these employees decide to move? Those who would have been open to moving jobs decided that they would stay during the pandemic as felt they were lucky to be in a job. But others made their decision based on how their wellbeing was treated and looked after by their leaders, for example, were they being forced to go into the office?

What constitutes a “boomerang employee”? Those who decide to leave (their employer or our sector), then after taking time out of the industry, want to come back. Maybe the grass wasn’t greener? Or they upskilled and want to bring those skills back? Perhaps to gain a different and/or higher level role? Or they simply missed the travel industry!

So, is bringing back your ex-employees the answer? It helps as little induction and training is required with boomerang hires. The retention rate will be higher from their familiarity with the business and how it works. It brings back experience that otherwise would have been lost. Clearly they are going to be more productive than a new employee.

However there can be challenges with rehiring an ex-employee. If they left because of disgruntlement within the business and the root of that problem hasn’t been addressed, then it won’t work. There is also the question around the employee’s loyalty – they already left once, what it the likelihood of them doing it again? Also they will need to adapt and aclimatise to a new workplace and lets face it, no travel business is how it was in terms of policies and culture, prior to the pandemic.

So for both parties, the boomerang solution may or may not work and careful consideration needs to happen before committing to a return.

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