Can you go home again? New study looks at the workplace effects of boomerangs

While movement from job to job throughout one’s career is expected, little research has evaluated the effects of hiring boomerang workers - those who return to a former employer. A new study suggests that, in addition to benefits that boomerangs can bring to organizations with their knowledge, experience and familiarity with a team, current employees can benefit from boomerangs’ helpfulness.

However, existing workers often are not as helpful to the boomerangs as they are to true newcomers to the organization, the researchers said.

What the researchers say: “Effectiveness at work often depends on getting assistance from peers,” the study’s lead author explains. “Our work shows boomerangs give more than they get.”

To assess boomerang effects, researchers looked at a sampling of players’ careers in the National Basketball Association because their movements and interactions were easier to track than those of corporate workers. The premier men’s professional basketball league sees nearly half of all players turning over each season, with 17% returning to their former teams. Previous research estimates boomerangs in all businesses range from 10% to 20%.

Researchers looked at all boomerangs returning to former teams in the NBA from 1996 until 2019. They also looked at data going back to 1970 to make sure they captured the players’ first NBA employment experience.

In addition to their quantitative analysis, researchers looked at anecdotal evidence that boomerang players care about building relationships with new colleagues. Among the anecdotes was that of NBA All-Star center Tyson Chandler. Upon his return to the Dallas Mavericks after three years, he spoke to the media about his current contribution, saying: “I’m a more mature player, understanding the moment. A lot more confident. First time I came through I was really trying to establish myself and find my place, but I now understand what I bring to my team.”

NBA data is relevant to business, say the researchers. As in many business settings, success in sport teams requires a high level of collaboration and sense of interconnectedness. Just as workers may enter an organization from a competitor in a similar business, sports players may join a new team from a competitor.

Although it’s difficult to ascertain why existing team members may not want to help their returning colleagues, or boomerangs, researchers thought that resentment might play a role. They proposed that former colleagues might have found the boomerang’s exit disruptive, “making them more likely to hold lingering bad feelings that reduce their propensity to assist the boomerang.”

To explore this idea, researchers showed that former colleagues were even less helpful toward boomerangs when they had worked longer together in the boomerang’s first time with the organization, and when the team’s performance suffered after the boomerang left that first time. Another source of resentment could occur if the boomerang’s status rose while they were away.

My take: It’s hard to be surprised by the findings of this study, since from a human design specs perspective they’re obvious.

A sports team—like a work team—is a small tribe. The members rely on each other for support and to have their needs met within the context of the group—like members of a hunting (or gathering) band.

When a member of the tribe leaves, that network of mutuality is threatened, trust is eroded, and the remaining members are liable to feel resentful. The resentment continues even if the ex-tribe member returns to the fold.