Rehire Someone You Fired?
A reader asks an interesting question. Do any of you have a different point of view, knowledge of trends, or the experience of rehiring an employee you fired? Please post in "comments."
Question:
"I am looking for your point of view on trends from the employers' perspective to rehire someone whom they fired. Do you have any posts or details on this subject? Specifically, are employers concerned that there would be resentment on the employees' part, the psychological aspect of it? The internal politics with employees and how the employer would be 'viewed' rehiring a fired employee? Is this a problem? I am based in Shanghai, China and finding HR experts is tough."
My Response:
I would not rehire someone I have fired. This is because I follow all of my recommended steps before I would fire someone. That means they have had every chance to improve and they are not suitable for my organization, for whatever reason.
People don't change that much. If you are prepared to overlook the reasons you fired the individual in the first place, the same reasons won't go away but, possibly, the firing was not totally justified.
I'd rather train and mentor someone new. And, yes, there will be anger and resentment and the other employees will question management's judgment if you rehire someone you fired. But, mostly, the reasons for which you fired the person have usually not gone away. I recognize that laws and other considerations in your region may be different.
This is what I believe. I am not aware of trends or research. I have not written on this topic as I don't believe it should happen, except under a rare circumstance. I can't really think of any that would qualify. Let's give other readers the opportunity to chime in.
I'm curious about what other readers think?
More About How to Fire an Employee
- How to Fire an Employee: Legal, Ethical Employment Termination.
- Fire With Compassion and Class: Employment Termination.
- Is a Poisonous Attitude a Reason to Fire an Employee?
More Posts | All Topics | Most Popular | Newsletter
Comments
If the organization is large, you may find someone who hires a person who has been fired at another worksite. Our experience is … they still have difficulties in the 2nd workplace. There were reasons why they weren’t kept on at the 1st place. Sometimes there may be personal issues, but after checking out the basis, you may find that the employee’s work habits are still the same. We did re-hire back two people – one in the same type of position. They no longer have the opportunity to have the same situation because they can’t take vehicles home. The 2nd issue has to do with a worker who applied for a position in a different department. Due to possible release issues, we took them back in a different capacity. Not the best worker, but better than before.
Documentation is always key, and if you don’t have too many options, you will have to live with the fact that their position may not be filled right away. If you can get by, then go for it. If you will have real problems with replacement, follow the procedures for documentation, and see if they decide they would rather work elsewhere. That makes it a lot easier.
Government jobs are the hardest for getting rid of poor-performing people and the easiest for finding replacements in some areas.
I have been in HR for nearly 15 years. The last 2 years in an executive position. I remember one particular situation I had to let an employee go. She had an extremely complicated pregnancy and although I went beyond FMLA and company leave I was sadly left with no alternative. She was a wonderful employee and did return a little more than a year later seeking re-employment. She was rehired immediately. Evidently I too went above and beyond what was required and left with no alternative but to terminate this particular employee, but the circumstances were beyond her control. All employees will have personal problems at any given time in their life and unfortunately we are left with no alternative but to terminate employment, but if the employee worked very well with your staff and took direction from management without ever a oomplaint I see no reason why they should not be rehired if the circumstances were beyond there control. Over the course of my career I have rehired about 4 employees with no regrets. Again, the circumstances for these employees were beyond their control. It had nothing to do with job performance. In that particular case I would NEVER rehire.
As a small business owner, firing someone is always difficult since we have become to know each other fairly well. When I fire it is never done based on sound relationship we as built as collegaues but on work performance. There are times I have terminated an employee and when the next employee arrives ” I think boy, I miss so and so” for they had some great qualites. But, I always remember there was some real performance issues which triggered the termination therefore it was a good termination.
There may be some rare instances where there is a misfit for the job. However, I believe this should have been reviewed prior to the termination and possible transfer/reassignment at that time.
There only reason I could think of for rehiring of a fired employee if it due to redunancy, layoffs and there were the least senior and this was part of the separation package.
Bad mistake to rehire.
A few years ago, my company downsized and I was one of the last ones to be “terminated”. My boss told me he could no longer “afford” me. A few months later I received a phone call inquiring as to whether or not I was interested in coming back to the “team” because business declined sharply when
I left. With no hesitation,I declined the offer and stayed at my much lower paying job because I loved it and was finally growing. One of my friends went back after termination and is still miserable. Its a risk to rehire some individuals. But on the other hand favortism does run rampant in many organizations and so many wonderful individuals are fired because of immature or micro managing managers who just don’t get it. Depending upon circumstance and need I probably would risk re-hiring some individuals. No doubts about it.
I agree with the general sentiments in the Comments. If you have fired someone for operational reasons you may well take them back, and the ILO protocols require one to look at such ex-employees when re-hiring. Even “incompetence”. If the job changed and the person was not able to cope with new technology you may have “let them go” (nice Euphemism–sounds like we’re doing them a favour). You would have looked for an alternative position which may not have been available, now one arises and there is no reason not to welcome the person back. But Induction is important. If time has passed, make sure they understand the Organisation has changed; there may be new rules and policies since they left.
But misconduct, gross negligence, never….
I have been in different organizations observing these trends of firing and hiring .my personel feel is that manier times we fire an employee who is efficiant ,reasons many ..internal politics is one of the strongest resons and ..being unreasonable boss .What i would consider while rehiring an employee is how he has been presenting himself in the organization and is his services been best.We can train a new employee definitly but will you be able to get those best practicies which the fired employee had??and today time is limited and resorces are also limited and talent hunt is time process .i would recomend to ensure that we chec for the credibility of the employee who is fired and then consider to rehire or not.
Where rehiring a resource who has been earlier fired for maybe incompetency is concerned, i would definitely not want to rehire.
In my experience of 2 years as an HR Exe., i have had to terminate a few resources as they were not competent and there was no scope for improvement then there were resources who left the organisation just for a better compensation package but not for a better job profile and the third types were those who left for a better job profile, a better brand and career growth but were unprofessional, not to complete there notice period and exit formalities. These are the 3 kind of resources, i will never consider for rehire.
Yes, i have rehired a resource who is very talented but had left us for better growth and with a proper exit and when we had a requirement that matched his profile and had a scalable career map, we rehired this resource.
My concern would be that if you rehire someone you fired, you leave yourself open to a wrongful termination suit for the firing. It would be an admission of an error in the firing process.
My first observation of the various responses to the question is that there are various interpretations of the term “fire”. Let’s get it straight here. My opinion of an employee being fired is that the employer terminates the employee’s service due to continuous poor performance or breach of company policies. An employee who voluntarily resigns for whatever reason, or whose service is terminated due to redundancy or other operational reasons is not, in my opinion, fired.
Now, as to whether I would re-hire an employee who was fired, I definitely would not. My decision to fire an employee would be based purely on his issues contrary to the company’s policies and practices. That ultimate decision would have been made after careful evaluation of the circumstances, and the grievance procedure would have been followed. I consider it counter-productive to re-hire such an employee for various reasons. It would be sending the wrong signal to current and prospective employees. Such an employee could return with a vengeance and could prove detrimental to the company. Staff morale could also be affected by such action. To avoid any such complications and to preserve the integrity of the company’s policies, it is best not to re-hire an employee who was fired.
The decision to re-hire persons who have left the company for other reasons would be based on the merit of each individual and the company’s needs.
Rehire? I’ve seen some situations where the company did not follow all the proper steps that you mentioned in termination. So, to back step, and prevent a wrongful termination, they rightfully rehired the person. While many of the Fortune 1000 companies have policies in place there are many that don’t or don’t follow what policies they do have.
I was a supervisor on a rig. I was accused of being a whistleblower over workers doing illegal activies. Stuff the company would rather keep under the belt. Well as punishment they fired me but they said they were in the same breath going to rehire me in a different area of the company. And the sad thing is since my state is a at will state on employment they can do that. Well I am not going to take the job. I’ll pay the price. Sad enough to say our laws are not for the common man. Ask wall street, laws are for business and the fat cats. So called Joe six pack /the plumber and Rosie the rivetor/ Hockey Mom are only here to be run over robbed and be the pocket book to bail the big cats out.
Rehiring an employee is a sensitive issue. The reasons are- he may deny to be back, reasons for firing will be in doubt, other employees will question management’s decision, and above all after the employee returns back he remains insecure, resented.
Firing if done because of company’s crisis period or for the need to cut cost etc then rehiring is preferable when conditions get well. this will reduce the recruitment cost, induction will be smooth, work culture will be benefited.
I was fired from a company several years ago, and want to reapply. I was hurt on the job during my 90 day probationary period. I was also having trouble becoming proficient and made some mistakes. I did try hard to do well, but in the end, they did fire me.
Later, my unemployment claim was denied and I disputed and lost at the hearing.
I intend to be upfront with them if they interview me, but wanted any advice that might help me.
Working in so-called Human Resources has got to be the crappist job around; I’ve always noticed the HR people any place I’ve worked appear profoundly unhappy, and they have huge turn over rates so I assume they aren’t paid well either. You would assume someone responsible for “Human Resources” would have great personalities, etcetera but never in my experience have I seen this.
And why aren’t there more men in HR? And why is it 99% of the time a middle aged middle class white woman with a fake attitude employees must deal with?
For God’s sake this 2008 not 1978….make a serious effort to diversify; the whole workplace would be the better for it. One time I mentioned in passing the above comment about middle aged white woman in HR among a mixed group and boy did I apparantly hit a raw nerve; the conversation became very lively and everyone was in rare agreement.
As for re-hiring the corporate drones will of course say it comes down to liability and as importantly the person who did the firing not wanting to admit a mistake was made, the same way people will stay in prison for years unfairly because hotshot prosecutors and cops won’t admit they made a mistake. Sad, but the world is a sad depressing place.
I should also add HR DOES NOT always have the ultimate say; believe me, if say a senior partner, or better still managing partner, said they disagreed with a termination and wanted them rehired, they’d be rehired.
I feel bad for the majority of folks who’re employees at will; they have zero protection from HR and/or managerial maleficence, and no ability to seriously contest a wrongful termination.
Anybody who seriously thinks HR and others who have the ability to fire someone are always above board and would never terminate, manipulating so-called company policy (which isn’t legally binding LOL) to fire someone for more abirtary reason(s) they’re delusional.
I know a woman professor who was sexually discriminated and fired. She one her legal case and the university had to hire her back, pay all of her legal fees, and give her the 5 years of back pay, etc. She worked for the university for over another 10 years before she retired. Be careful when you fire someone. Are you really firing the right person?
If they are a bad performer than dump them and never look back. If they are not honest, have no intergrity, don’t do what they say when they say, or rather pick his/her nose than work then fire them and do not look back.
I have only seen one instance where a company got it right and fired 15 lazy dishonest people in the department and kept the 3 who were doing their job. They hired new people. Most of the time HR would have fired the 3 and said that they were trouble makers or didn’t fit the corporate culture.
If Britney Spears has an IQ of 105 then most HR personnel must be 90!