How can we hold onto boomerang employees?

Welcome to Ask an Adviser, EBN’s weekly column in which benefit brokers and advisers answer (anonymous) queries sent in by our readers. Looking for some expert advice? Please submit questions to askanadviser@arizent.com. This week, we asked Kathleen Quinn Votaw, CEO of TalenTrust, to weigh in on the following: How can we hold onto boomerang employees?

Boomerangs are employees who voluntarily leave your company — and then want to come back. And of course, in this tight job market, boomerang rehires have actually proven to be a great source for the highest quality talent.

Every organization should make it a priority to prevent potential boomerangs from leaving in the first place, but you can win them back if they do. That may seem counterintuitive, but especially given today’s talent shortages, it makes sense to rehire the people you already know can do the job, and who fit into your community. They are your “right” people.

Read more: 10 states where employers are having the hardest time hiring

There are a variety of reasons employees choose to quit. A higher position or better pay elsewhere can lure talent away. Interest in more education or launching their own operation can cause someone to quit. Even health issues or caring for at-home parents can bring an employee’s time at a company to an end. But all of these reasons have one thing in common: they shouldn’t keep you from considering a rehire.

Boomerang employees are more productive and engaged than first-time employees, and more likely to stay longer. It requires less time and money to interview, onboard and train them. And because they already know your culture, it’s easier to reintegrate them, and for them to get up and running faster. They’ll likely return with additional skills, experience and capabilities that benefit your business, and their positive attitude will help raise morale and satisfaction levels for the entire team.

What can you do so that people will never want to leave in the first place? Start with culture, or what I call your “community.” Build a place where people want to be and have every reason to stay. Change your mindset from top-down management and hierarchy to a “Camelot community,” which is all about relationship, trust and common values.

Read more: Look back at former employees to get ahead of the hiring competition

In a Camelot community, leadership is human-centric, showing empathy, kindness, respect and concern for the well-being of people first before anything else. Job candidates are given a warm and personal experience backed by the reality of how it feels after they’re hired.

Leaders in this kind of community and organization listen to employees and act on what they say. Leaders have the courage to be authentic, vulnerable and transparent. People have decision-making authority and micromanagement isn’t allowed. Leaders and managers show that they pay attention by recognizing people in the way they personally prefer to be celebrated.

Policies and practices in are inclusive and fair. The employee referral program attracts top performers and compensates referring employees generously. Employees have flexibility and choice in where and how they work. And there is ample opportunity for career advancement and personal and professional growth.

Never doubt or forget that the employee experience matters to your customers. Welcome your talented boomerangs back to a Camelot community.