Would you boomerang back to your former employer?

Sometimes when it comes to changing careers, the grass isn’t always greener: an increasing cohort of workers are leaving new jobs to return to former employers in a new workplace trend known as “job boomeranging”. 

First coined by Anthony C. Klotz, associate professor of management at UCL School of Management in London, job boomeranging is a direct response to the pandemic-induced period known as the Great Resignation (another term that comes courtesy of Klotz) where thousands of employees quit their jobs in the hopes of securing better pay, increased flexibility and crucially, job satisfaction. 

No pain, no gain?

According to data compiled by Indeed and Glassdoor, an increase in salary is the primary reason people look for a new job, something compounded by the fact that those who change jobs frequently find themselves earning more than those who stay put. 

However, in a separate study of 1,950 people across the UK, US, France, Germany, Netherlands and Mexico conducted by workforce management provider UKG, 43 per cent of job hoppers admitted that in hindsight their previous job was better overall and nearly 20 per cent have done something about it by returning to their former employer shortly after starting a new job. 

Back for good

For many employers, tapping into a pool of talent that already knows how the business works and doesn’t need to receive training or onboarding outweighs any kind of broken trust or breakdown in collegial relations. Former employees who have spent time away from a company before returning can also bring a fresh perspective and insight into what the competition is, or isn’t doing. 

In 2019, more than 10 per cent of Microsoft's hires were former employees, and at LinkedIn in the UK, 5 per cent of all new hires in 2021 were boomerangers who returned to the company.

There’s also the morale boost the return of a prodigal former employee can bring, not to mention how beneficial foreboding tales of the unknown can be in helping to retain current staff tentatively contemplating a potential move of their own.

And for the employees returning to the fold, having the inside track on how people work is an invaluable resource in a new role, especially if you’ve returned to a more senior position. 

That being said, sometimes not even the lure of knowing the intricacies of how an organisation functions can be enough to prolong the lifespan of your relationship with an employer, and often a fresh start is the only way to future-proof your career in the long run. 

With that in mind, the AltFi Job Board is filled with hundreds of openings in companies that are actively hiring, like the three below. 

Program Manager, GoCardless, London

A global leader in account-to-account payments, the regulatory and compliance group at GoCardless is responsible for supporting the regulatory and compliance aspects of its products and services. As Program Manager, you will work with all of the compliance managers to relaunch and run various compliance programs and drive a programmatic structuring and implementation across the key pillars of the compliance operating model. You’ll also support the development of program updates that will be provided on a consistent basis to various stakeholders about strategy, adjustments and progress, and utilise best practices, techniques and standards. See more details about this role here.

Internal Audit Manager - QA, Monzo, London

Neobank Monzo is on a mission to make money work for everyone. Its internal audit team is growing and is currently seeking an Internal Audit Manager. Internal audit is Monzo's “Third Line of Defence" (3LoD) and this role will be responsible for ensuring internal audit's performance conforms with internal policies, external standards and best practices, as well as for audit's management information (MI) accuracy and reliability. You’ll also own Board Audit Committee (BAC) reporting by providing complete, accurate and timely information. View the full job description here.

Full Stack Developer, Starling Bank, London

Starling engineers love building things, learning new technologies and working with others across all areas of the bank to bring brilliant products and features to life. The engineering team offers a flat working structure and as such, the Full Stack Developer role is open to programmers of all levels of experience and ability. However, you will be comfortable polishing your javascript front end as you debug the innards of Starling’s java applications database while also tweaking CloudFormation templates. Get more information on this opening here. 

For more employment opportunities across banking, finance and tech, visit the AltFi Job Board today.