"There and Back Again: A Salesperson's Tale" - 09/11/19 Edition
Stephen Says Column
Dear Stephen:
I work for a company that hires back a lot of salespeople and managers that have quit. We are a substantial, privately owned manufacturer with a hard-driving sales force. We have a strong corporate culture with lots of personality. Most salespeople are here for a long time because performance is rewarded, and we have a great product.
I think we are targeted by recruiters and our competitors. We’re not your typical furniture sales organization that just hires retreads from within the industry. We hire upstarts from outside the industry we believe have potential, we train them on our products and customers, and we train them hard. It’s work hard and play hard here, but that means some people get burned out and leave. To dissuade people from leaving, we had a non-compete, but the company discovered it was not worth the paper it was written on so we do not use one anymore. Even some of my own close friends and colleagues have left.
Here is the thing with many of them. After one, two even three years, they are back working here. I am not sure how I feel about that. I am working away, loyal to my job and company, and some of the same faces appear again. They didn’t like where they went, or the new employer didn’t like them, and they were fired. And, insult on injury, my company gives many of them raises!
Do most companies do this? I just hate when they hire people back but, of course, I don’t say anything. I have my own reports but would never hire back in my own region. What are your thoughts on this practice? Why do companies do it?
Signed,
Loyal to a Fault?
Dear Loyal:
My first thought is why are you so worried about it? It’s a smart policy for your company in today’s tight job market. The grass is not always greener, but you will never know unless you dare to find out. And sometimes it is. Maybe it would have worked out for them. These people would never know unless they tried.
It’s an ego and career boost to be recruited away, do not kid yourself. If the new job did not work out for them for whatever the reason, and they came back, they sound smart to me. Your company is even smarter to recognize there is nothing wrong with hiring people back who were proven performers and quit their job on good terms.
You sound jealous of your colleagues who have had the gumption to leave their jobs to explore elsewhere. Could it be because no one has called you about another job opportunity? Green does not become you. If you are a manager and hiring people, you need to be in sync with your company’s philosophy or find somewhere else to work. To answer your question at the risk of repeating myself, if someone quits a job, and the company regrets losing that employee, it’s smart to hire them back. The employee is usually more appreciative of the company the second time around. Like remarrying a spouse you divorced — i.e. Elizabeth Taylor, Elon Musk or Pamela Anderson (although maybe they are not a good examples!)— they all married the same person twice. You get the idea.
Stephen
You can send your workplace questions to Stephen at: StephenSays@bellow.press
Questions selected to be answered, will appear in this column. Please use the Subject: Stephen Says for all emails. Stephen Viscusi is a bestselling author, television personality, and CEO of The Viscusi Group, global executive recruiters located in New York. Follow Stephen on Twitter @stephenviscusi. Like Stephen on Facebook and follow him on LinkedIn.
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