Re-hire previous employee

kswsd

I enjoy reading this forum and have found a need to get your educated opinions.

We have a former employee who left for family reasons. When we hired him, he was supposed to move here with his family. He was unable to sell his house, out of state, he had a family emergency, etc. Finally took a general leave of absence for 3 months, determined he could not come back so we mutually terminated his employment.

Now there has been discussion about bringing him back to work. (He was very good at what he does and has a good personality for getting along with co-workers.) They are concerned that we will run into the same issues and would like to make some things a condition of employment.

Is there a problem with making it a condition of employment to move his family here within a short period of time...say 2-3 weeks? There may be a couple other things that we would also make a condition of employment.

Have any of you had experience with this sort of thing? I appreciate your comments in advance.

Crout

Who came up with the magic number of 2-3 weeks? Have you researched the real estate market in your candidate's region and discovered that the average house in that price range sells within 2-3 weeks? Are you also going to mandate the price as well? Are you going to cap the number of family emergencies? I'm apologize for the sarcasm, which really doesn't answer your question. I would be a little careful. You should set conditions of employment that have to do with the job...period. Stay awawy from any mention of family. Negotiate with him on a reasonable timeframe to make the transition, but don't expect miracles, and I don't see how it would be productive for you to set unreasonable expectations and set the guy up for failure.

System

kswsd,

Welcome to the Forum.

I don't think I would venture into those conditional terms. Some things are OK to make contractural like reimbursement for training, physicals, hiring expenses, etc. I would stay away from making any personal family decisions a hiring requirement.

I believe you'll run into the same issues you had before. Nobody's that good anyway - especially someone who left after a short tenure under those circumstances. I think he's very smooth. I wouldn't consider him at all unless he had already relocated.

Just my thoughts.

Rockie

Generally, I have found, that when employees leave and then want to return, the reasons they left initially are still there. It appears this is the case with your person. I would not even consider a rehire until he had made the committment and moved. Otherwise, you are still going to have him dragging his butt again.

We have a similar situation now where we let our CFO move to a remote location because of family issues. He had a virtual computer hookup, etc. and he was very accessible during work hours, except he was not physically present. This has not worked out because the "powers that be" have dictated that he needs to be on site. (even though he got much more done off site). Anyway...he was supposed to move back last summer, now, he is working three weeks on site and then works off site for a week. His wife refuses to move back until she has found "just the house" she wants. There are such unrealistic expectations on finding "the house" that I don't expect he will be moving back anytime soon. (House has to be in the same neighborhood they lived in before, has to face a certain way, have a certain style....ad nauseum).

Anyway...you get my drift. This is a no win situation unless he has all his ducks in a row before he wants to be rehired.

Pork

You can stipulate anything you want to in your letter of offer. Your concern, is it worth it for this one particular fish in the barrel? Reading what you have given us for information, my letter of offer would be contingent upon his relocation with family into a desired area of interest of your company.

Upon doing so you can lay out the "sweetheart" incentives which might make his spouse to come off her "high house", and come to the reality that your company is really interested in her spouse and the family, but the company is not interested in getting WAXed again. The family is part of the company and is a concern.

I have stipulated perks, such as down payments, REALATOR COMMISSION FEES, closing cost, temporary living expenses, sign-up bonuses, medical premium payments, etc. all with proof of the purchase of a home within a given boundary by COB DATE, 2004.

If the stipulation is satisfied then the company would be obligated to follow through with your promises. Don't come off of the "sunset date" that is key to your and his committment.

Good Luck.

PORK

Don D

My last job was with a manufacturing firm that exported coaxial cable to 44 countries. We had a multitude of sales staff and several layers of sales management. For some reason, unknown to me, these people at this notch in the sales hierarchy have some real positive thoughts about themselves and will promise the moon and not deliver. I watched and heard of many who were released or quit because they could not or would not relocate to the corporate offices here. We finally included in our offer letter the following, and they worked much better:

1. The company will pay for two househunting trips for the spouse, yada yada yada.
2. The company will pay living expenses at the rate of X per month for a period not to exceed x months.
3. The company will reimburse all relocation expenses, da da da.
4. It is agreed that relocation will be accomplished no later than 6 months after the date of this offer.
5. In the event relocation is not accomplished by the stated date, the incumbent will reimburse the company for all expenses paid to date by the company associated with temporary living arrangements.
6. The inability or refusal of X to relocate his primary residence in accordance with these terms will result in a 'for cause' dismissal from employment.
7. If separation should result, the incumbent agrees that any pay, commission or expense reimbursement, or unsatisfied advance reimbursement may be reduced by the amount owed to the company.

These are just my thoughts on some of the things you might consider. Run any of it through your attorney since it's contractual.

ritaanz

Why would he be considered for rehire? Have any of the problems that existed before been solved? If I read your post correctly, HE determined that he could not come back after a 3 month leave of absence.

Surely there has to be another candidate that can fill the position with less hassles. I would advise the powers to be to stop wasting time and get moving in a positive direction.

I know, I know, I did not answer your question. But in my mind, if an applicant accepts a job that requires relocation, he relocates. Period. The company's relocation policy will dictate the terms.

deniseE

Maybe I misread your post, but I got the impression that your guy failed to return due to a family emergency, not a "I can't find the perfect house" issue. I was thinking car accident, terminally ill parent...something like that.

If that is the case, it was certainly a situation beyond his control and may not be an on-going one. In that senario, he may be worth looking at again, with many of the provisions offered in the earlier posts.

If I misread and he really did fail to return because the spouse wasn't happy with the housing options, then you might be better finding someone else. If the spouse will not be happy in the new area, it does not bode well for any one of you!!

kswsd

Thank you for all of your thoughts. He did have a terminally ill parent and was unable to sell his house. I believe that both of those issues have resolved themselves now...or I would definitly recommend against rehire. I'm just uncomfortable with what some of the supervisors are saying that they would like for guarantees and thought I would get your opinions.

I appreciate the time you took from your busy schedules to respond to my post.

Pork

THE HOUSE SELL PROBABLY REMAINS AN ISSUE, MOST LIKELY BECAUSE OF THE ASKING PRICE. In these cases, I have put words in the offer which sets a sunset for selling and relocating;if the amount "sold" is less than the "appraised fair market" value, the company could offer to off set the loss in a sign-up bonus, if they have purchased a home within your area of interest. This action will usually off-set the sting of moving/relocation/ and loss of home ownership investments cause by a change in jobs.

Those supervisors/managers who are holding back their support of this candidate, you might ask them for the name of their better candidate for you to call, or have them get in contact with their candidate and to have the candidate contact you. We have a recruiting bonus program for our employees, who help us get new candidates interviewed and hired, this still does not lessen my job to acquire candidates which will fit in our organization.

Good Luck!

PORK