From 'Great Resignation' to big comeback? Why more workers are returning to their old employers in the UK

It has been three years since the UK entered the lockdown that disrupted the labour market in several ways. For most, it meant working from home for the first time, while others, including those in the entertainment and hospitality industry, saw their industries shut down, with many choosing to reskill and switch fields. It also accelerated shifts impacting the workforce that were already taking place, such as a rise in automation and e-commerce. 

Even with lockdowns in the rearview mirror, the numerous changes in the world of work prompted many workers to reconsider their career paths. The "Great Resignation" trend followed in 2021-22, where many employees resigned from their roles as they rethought what they wanted from their work.

This shift in the workforce was initially caused by pandemic-related factors such as safety concerns, a feeling of inadequate support for remote work, and workers looking for better pay in a tight labour market. According to LinkedIn’s 2022 report on the "Great Reshuffle", the pandemic also led more and more people to reevaluate what they want from a job and life.

However, data suggests some of these workers are now finding that the grass may not be greener on the other side, prompting them to return to a former employer. And from the employer side, many are welcoming back former employees due to a tight labour market amid low unemployment rates and high vacancies.

Both factors are likely to be contributing to the rise of employees being hired by their former employer. This report examines the number of these so-called boomerang employees in different industries in the UK between 2019 and 2022.

The data from the LinkedIn's Economic Graph presented in this report indicates that the trend of rehiring former employees is rising in the UK. The government administration, oil, gas, and mining, and financial services sectors showed the highest share of "boomerang" employees, indicating that these industries are embracing the potential advantages of welcoming back former staff. 

However, some industries showed a decline in the percentage of returning employees, potentially indicating a need to recognise the importance of retention and the value of experience. When it comes to retention, LinkedIn data suggests that employees who switch roles within their organisation are more likely to stay longer, with a 64% chance of remaining after three years, compared to a 45% chance for those who don't make an internal move.

Why welcome people back? And why go back to an old employer? 

The trend of rehiring former employees indicates that organisations increasingly recognise the value of employees with existing experience. 

Such boomerang employees can provide several benefits to organisations. According to a 2020 study published in the Academy of Management Journal, one of the key benefits for employers in hiring returning workers is that they "possess intimate prior experience in the organisation's social system."

According to a Harvard Business Review report on a similar subject, returning workers also require reduced onboarding time, have increase retention rates, and improve morale. Additionally, returning employees are already familiar with the company culture and work processes, which can help them integrate back into the organisation quickly.

While it may make sense for employers to promote recruiting former employees, what do these returning workers get? According to research by Paychex quoted by Refinery29 UK , deciding to return to an old job is difficult, but "the top thing workers missed about jobs they left during the "Great Resignation" was their colleagues". 

Claire Porter writes: "This [returning to a former employer] was especially the case for women, who were 31% more likely than men to miss coworkers when they switched jobs."

What the data shows about UK workers

LinkedIn's Economic Graph data shows that there has been a noticeable increase in the number of employees returning to a previous employer in the UK since the pandemic. Workers returning to their former employers increased from 1.90% in 2019, a year before the pandemic, to 2.23% in 2022.

Interestingly, 2020 saw a big spike in those boomeranging to their old jobs, rising to 2.22% compared to 1.90% a year before. While the trend took a little tumble in 2021, with the share of those returning to their previous employer reducing by half a percentage point to 2.17%, it picked up again in 2022, staying 1.33 percentage points above the pre-pandemic levels. 

Among the various industries measured, the government administration sector had the highest percentage of boomerang employees in 2022, with 3.77% returning to work for their previous employer. It is essential to highlight that the industry also saw some of the highest proportions of employees returning to their former workplace in 2019, 2020 and 2021 – going from 3.32% in 2019 to 4.07% in 2020 and 3.59%.

The second largest share of returning employees was observed in the oil, gas, and mining sector, rising from 3.27% in 2019 to 3.60% in 2022. The financial services sector also had a significant share of boomerangs, rising from 2.18% in 2019 to 2.23% in 2022.

A 2020 study published in the Academy of Management Journal , which looked at the performance of boomerang employees compared to new hires, found that "boomerang hires' advantages will be greater in jobs that require greater interdependence with other members of the organisation." Hence, one reason for the higher number of returning employees in the government administration and oil and gas sectors could be that these jobs require a large degree of prior knowledge, and getting back to the complex systems one is familiar with could ease the process of going back to an old employer.

Many returning employees are also coming back from retirement. Around half of the former civil servants aged between 50 and 65 who retired during the pandemic are considering returning to work due to financial pressures caused by rising living costs, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data released in December last year. It is significantly higher than any other job sector, with only 37% of health workers and 36% of IT workers considering returning. 

Another reason for the higher number of returning employees within government administration could be the rising number of roles available. According to the Institute for Government ’s Whitehall Monitor, in the six years leading to 2022, the government increased civil service workforce by 25% (nearly 95,000 roles) to prepare for Brexit, establish new permanent post-Brexit responsibilities, and respond to the Covid pandemic, starting in 2020.

A similar surge in hiring has been seen in the oil and gas industry following the height of the pandemic. According to the latest data from energy industry body Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), the sector’s workforce declined by nearly 30% between 2019 and 2020 “owing to cutbacks in industry spending”. Following that, the oil and gas sector has been on a hiring spree in 2021 and 2022, adding 19% or around 35 thousand jobs in the last two years. With the lack of skilled workers a significant issue facing the industry, it is likely many employers have been employing skilled workers who were let go during the pandemic.

Since 2019, every industry, barring the technology, information and media sector, has seen an increase in the number of returning employees. While they followed the trend, sectors like accommodation, real estate and equipment rental services, remained the lowest when it comes to the share of returning employees.    

In the accommodation industry, including hospitality, fewer employees returned to a former employer compared to other sectors in the past few years. Although it had a lower base than most other industries, it saw the highest percentage increase out of all the sectors between 2019 and 2022. Boomerang employees grew from 1.03% in 2019 to 1.49% in 2020. The share continued to rise in the next two years, reaching 1.51% in 2021 and 1.64% in 2022. 

The UK hospitality industry has been hard hit over the past few years, with employees and employers being among the worst affected due to the pandemic. According to a House of Commons research briefing, the number of workers in the hospitality sector fell by 90,000 or 3.6% during the lockdown period, compared to a 1.3% decline in jobs across all industries. This is in line with LinkedIn data, which showed a hiring drop of 17.05% in the accommodation industry in February 2023 compared to the same month in the previous year. However, hiring remains substantially higher than in the same month two years ago (160.39%), when many pandemic restrictions remained in place.

Another reason for the lower rate of return for workers in the hospitality sector could be closure of businesses during the pandemic. While the House of Commons research briefing says that there is no exact figure for the number of closures, it puts the fall in the total number of hospitality businesses in the UK at 10%, compared to a 7% fall in other sectors.  

Overall, data suggests that following the pandemic, the trend of employees returning to their former employers is rising in the UK in almost all industries. This is due to several factors, from employees returning from retirement to employers eager to hire amid a tight labour market. Some potential benefits for bosses include quicker onboarding time and, for employees, returning to a familiar environment.

Would you consider going back to your past employer? What factors would influence your decision? Let us know in the comment section.  

Methodology: This analysis focuses on employment data provided by UK members. A position is identified as a boomerang employee if three conditions are met: a member once held another position within the same company; the start date of the current position is more recent than the end date of the position once held, and the member worked for another organisation at some point between those two dates.

Reported by: Manas Pratap Singh

Economic Graph team: Rosie Hood, PhD , Shane Moynihan TD (Séin Ó Muineacháin)

Managing Editor: Siobhan Morrin

Special Projects Lead: Michele Pierri