Rehiring an employee who quit?

[snowman]

This is the funniest damn thread I've seen a while.

The cost of training a non-skilled employee to do a job is believed to average $1252 by brief google search.

Traditional apprenticeships are at least two years to be considered competent.

Skilled takes 5-10 years.

Are you really so stubborn that you want to throw money away by not hiring one back IF they were a good employee before they left. They won't even need to be onboarded.

 

[DDoug]

Let the other employees vote "off the island with im"

 

[fowlerranch]

We have an employee who gave 2 weeks notice and is going somewhere that has better benefits. Which I completely understand. He's been with us about 10 years and been a pretty good employee for the most part. Good attendance, does quality work, but not the best attitude at times and won't do much of anything aside from running a machine.
My concern is, this isn't the first time he's done this. About 4 years ago he did the same thing and about 4 days later called wanting to come back.
If he does that again, would you take him back? If so, would you take him back at the same pay and benefits level, or would you treat it like a new hire, who has experience?

I have had employees who quit it’s always a shock I think if you are doing your job you’re employees will stay I always opened the books to my employees and when they can see how much money you’re earning from their work it’s a great incentive to be more profitable and it also motivates you to just compensation

 

[michiganbuck]

Some shops with not the best equipment, in the best area, not having the end product, competing for jobs just can't pay $24+ per hour.
That's why guys seek better skills, become more reliable, be willing to drive across town..and walk when they can find better.

*In a free market one can earn what they are worth.
In some countries, you are just stuck in the Poor Class.
We should never want to be that.

Wait for a year and the $15 minimum wage will have the same buying power of what $10 did a year ago.
And the guy making $24 - $35, and the guy on retirement will be poorer.

Some politician gets votes for screwing up the economy.
It is a part of being sly and brainwashing people to get votes.
We all could make $100 per hour and be just as poor (poorer).

 

[AJ H]

Wait for a year and the $15 minimum wage will have the buying power of what $10 did a year ago.
And the guy making $24 - $35, and the guy on retirement will be poorer.

A year wait is not needed. Over the last few years my wages have gone up, my spending has gone down, and the money leftover is less.

 

[dkmc]

Story is, a shop owner had a very talented non machinist come by wanting a job. Kid returned several times before owner gave him a chance. Kid was a natural wiz and became a mostly self taught good machinist. He helped the owner with other things like building expansion, did the carpentry and electrical, etc. About the best jack of all trades there was, and a great asset to the business. Kid was spending more time on his cell phone, and owner was becoming more irritated about that. Very small shop, so this happens.
Kid had been asking for a raise, owner refused. Tensions build. Then one day kid says he's found another job that will pay him starting salary that's $8 more per hour than he's making now. ...........Owner offers (too late) to match that pay rate. I think that was a very bad move. Kid is GONE. Moral of the story, take care of your key people, especially the prodigy gifted kid.
Not my story, someone I know...

 

[couch]

If you value him as an employee and person, don't let him go. He's looking to leave because of something you are not offering. Figure out what that is, implement it and he won't keep wanting to leave. If he's looking to leave for any reason, there's a good chance so are others.

Don't make promises you don't intend on keeping and if you do make promises, give a time frame. Doesn't take long for employees to lose trust in management. Second they're unhappy, they're out. Just a matter of time.

 

[Job Shopper TN]

Other than greed or complacency, I wonder what makes shop owners and managers extremely not-proactive when it comes to keeping their employees happy.

 

[michiganbuck]

Other than greed or complacency, I wonder what makes shop owners and managers extremely not-proactive when it comes to keeping their employees happy.

Or think they own somebody, and should teach someone a lesson.
Any smart business owner should be thankful to any worker who puts profits on the books.

 

[Clive603]

Several year boomerang employee syndrome is likely to be due more to workplace societal / "generalised environmental" reasons rather than the obvious pay / workload / conditions issues.

Basically something acts as a burr under the saddle growing steadily from minor itch "I can live with it" to totally out of proportion " F*** that hurts, I'm off". Hence jumping ship to a place that doesn't appear to have that particular burr. Wanting to come back suggests that new place had fleas instead.

Generally such matters are more of a perception issue rather than serious reality. But just as real. We all have the minor (to other people) things that drive us nuts and push the temper needle into the red, super-overload, danger UXB region.

Triggers and tolerance change with experience and age too.

Realistically if you get 4 or 5 years out of the "I come to work, do a perfectly acceptable job for my 8 hour day, and go home" you are doing pretty well. You are hiring skilled hands after all. Where those hands have been before matters not at interview time.

The loyalty you are expecting is a function of being a team. The team doesn't let good guys down and bands around their mates. The "I come to work......" guy doesn't feel part of the team so doesn't have that extra bond. The British military has always been very conscious of the importance of teams with its mess culture, embodiment of sports into official time et al. Even then it does't always work. Factory owners pretty much have to hope "team things" form spontaneously to get that extra loyalty.

Not being team guy doesn't prevent good work.

Clive

 

[Plane Parts]

If you get another four years for his two week unpaid vacation you got a bargain. Rest his vacation time, if any, and benefits probation and hire him back. I would overlook a bad attitude if he completes his tasks.

 

[john.k]

The business I worked in ,guys simply circulated ........you get a job on and need someone for six months ,or two years ........contact them and see what it would take to get them to come onboard........always a profit share ,or even a 10% stake ........better for guys to move around than sit in the same old shop ...........and when theres no work for a certain guy,they move on with no dramas...............at the sandblasters ,a couple of guys would say ...."we wont be in for two weeks ,doing a ship"...........the boss would already know the job was on offer ,and be expecting it.

 

[mottrhed]

Its been brushed on a few times here, but I think it needs to be clearly stated, even though most don't want to hear it.

Compensation, benefits, work/life balance, growth potential, work environment etc etc, are all excuses to leave, but the truth is good employees number one reason for leaving best stated like this.

Good people leave because of poor leadership.
Quality people quit leaders, not jobs.

Good, ambitious workers primarily leave because they don't think the leaders in place will get the company and/or themselves where they want to go. If you loose a good employee you need not look past yourself.

This is pointed at "smallish" companies, but overall true throughout the spectrum.

 

[William Payne]

ambitious workers primarily leave because they don't think the leaders in place will get the company and/or themselves where they want to go.

This is a big thing for me and always has been. You can love your job but if you have goals and ambitions and where you are working can't provide those things you will look elsewhere.

 

[thunderskunk]

So… I’m that guy. Not this specific fella, but I’ve done this to several employers. Worked at the railroad: loved it, dream job, but starting wage was less than minimum is now. I didn’t have a choice; find work using my degree or go broke trying to pay for it. Went somewhere else as a manufacturing engineer, lasted a month, and tried to crawl back. The foreman said “I’ll think about it.” He did, and years later asked if I needed a job.

I worked as a machinist for a small-town place for a few years, left to be a quality engineer somewhere else, came back for a few months when the place was headed down the tubes, then left again to be an engineer at yet another mom and pop shop. They ran out of money, and I was on the street again. I eventually settled in at a big name consumables manufacturer and absolutely loved my job. Three years later: my boss pissed me off, I pissed him off, we had a pissing match, he won, and I was shown the door. Not quite fired, didn’t exactly quit, but the end result is I don’t work there.

I hope someone laughs at this. I love working with a team, doing things that make lives easier, making products for decent customers, etc. I hate bureaucrats. I don’t give a shit about your feelings if your feelings mean my team had to suffer, so apparently that means I don’t play with others. Textbook personality for going off with my own business, but man I suck at it. I fit your definition of millennial employee; I don’t like it, but it’s true. I’ve got enough self respect to admit it’s my own damn fault, but that’s about it. I wish I could blame society, culture, school, circumstances, and I’m sure I could but it wouldn’t change much.

 

[EndlessWaltz]

Guy I know just quit. Long time guy. They screaming they can't find competent guys , yet really want button pushers for what they want to pay. Hilarious if not sad.

 

[john.k]

I was never intersted in teams.......you are always carrying weak guys.....your work goes to their benefit .........like "he s a nice guy,he s only wanting you to cover for him for a week "..........you dont refuse ,but you dont cover for him,and he gets the bums rush...........youre an a/hole............teams are the kind of crap dickheads write books about.

 

[jccaclimber]

I was never intersted in teams.......you are always carrying weak guys.....your work goes to their benefit .........like "he s a nice guy,he s only wanting you to cover for him for a week "..........you dont refuse ,but you dont cover for him,and he gets the bums rush...........youre an a/hole............teams are the kind of crap dickheads write books about.

If your team is full of losers not making the place better for others then the coach doesn't know how to hire or cut.

Not something that should be normal circumstances, but I remember a buddy in high school trying to get someone to cover his shift. Last minute thing after the schedule was set and he didn't have any remaining time off. Nobody else wanted to take his Sunday shift. "You're going to make 2.5 time covering for me Sunday." "Why's that?" "Double time because it's a Sunday, and the extra half because I'm paying you to get me out of this jam."

 

[john.k]

Bosses and owners never blame themselves ,they always rationalize so its never their fault...........the guy quit because he was unstable.....or he quit just before I kicked his a/h out of here...........he didnt drink -I never trusted any man who doesnt drink.

 

[Hodge]

I had another funny clash with the boss son ...I bought two 40ft containers from the boss cheap,on the condition I didnt resell them.....anyhoo,next thing the son says "You sold those containers ,Ive seen them in a factory yard on King Ave,no use denying it!"........I says ,yeah ,I own that place....Him and his old man are WTF?

There's got to be more to this story.