Latest / Hiring & Firing with Fexingo: Recruitment, Performance, and Workforce Decisions / Why You Should Hire People You Fired Before
Transcript
- Lucas: You know that former employee you let go two years ago for consistently missing deadlines — the one who was talented but just couldn't execute in your environment? Luna: Oof. I have a name in mind already. Lucas: Right. Well, a growing number of companies are now actively recruiting those people back. Including people who were fired for performance reasons. And the data suggests it's working. Luna: Wait — fired. Not laid off. Fired for performance. That's a much harder sell internally. How is that not a disaster waiting to happen? Lucas: Let me give you the numbers. A 2026 study from the Society for Human Resource Management tracked boomerang hires over a two-year period and compared those who were previously fired with those who left voluntarily. The fired boomerangs had a 17% higher retention rate than new external hires, and their productivity metrics were 12% better over the same window. Luna: Seventeen percent retention — that's significant. But I have to imagine selection bias is huge here. You're only rehiring the ones you think can actually do it. Lucas: Absolutely. Nobody's saying go back and rehire the person who yelled at clients or stole office supplies. But there's a specific category — people who had a genuine skill set but simply didn't fit the role, the manager, or the timing. And companies are getting systematic about identifying them. Luna: Before we go deeper, I want to flag something. We've been doing this show for a while now, and if these conversations have helped you think differently about your own hiring or firing decisions — maybe you've tried a new approach or avoided a costly mistake — there's a simple way to keep this going ad-free. It's buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, just a way listeners who find value can chip in. Lucas? Lucas: Yeah, it genuinely makes a difference. And this episode is a good example — we get into some pretty specific tactics that I think are immediately useful. So if that resonates, the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Lucas: So back to the study. One company that's been public about this approach is Nebula Logic, a mid-size tech firm in Seattle. They have a formal re-engage pipeline — they track every separation with a code: green, yellow, or red. Green means you left on great terms, yellow means performance was a factor but no hard feelings, red is the no-rehire category. Luna: And yellow is where the action is. Lucas: Exactly. Nebula's head of talent told me they reach out to yellow-coded former employees every six months, even if they were terminated. The email is light — something like 'Hey, we're building a new team for X project, thought of you.' No pressure. And the response rate is surprisingly high. Luna: But how do you overcome the awkwardness of the conversation? I mean, you fired them. Now you're calling them up saying, 'Come on back.' That takes some emotional intelligence on both sides. Lucas: It does. And Nebula has a structured re-onboarding process for boomerangs. It's not just 'welcome back, here's your laptop.' They do a full reset — new manager, new team, new project. The assumption is the old context was the problem, not the person. Luna: So the criteria for a rehire — what are they looking at? Three things, right? Lucas: Three things, yes. First, was the performance gap situational? Were they under a manager who just wasn't a fit, or was the role poorly defined? Second, did the employee leave on good terms despite the firing — did they handle the exit professionally? And third, has the role itself changed enough that the old failure mode is unlikely to repeat? Luna: That last one is key. If you're bringing someone back into the exact same job with the same manager, you're just setting them up to fail again. Lucas: Right. And Nebula tracks that. They actually have a rule — you cannot rehire a boomerang into the same reporting structure unless the manager has changed or the role responsibilities have shifted by at least 50%. Luna: Fifty percent — that's a high bar. But it makes sense. Otherwise you're just repeating a known failure. Lucas: And there's a secondary benefit. The SHRM study also found that teams that welcomed back a fired boomerang reported higher levels of psychological safety afterward. The idea being, if the company is willing to give someone a second chance, it signals that failure isn't a career death sentence. Luna: That's a really interesting cultural ripple effect. But I wonder about the legal risks. If you rehire someone you fired, and then have to fire them again, doesn't that open you up to retaliation claims or wrongful termination suits? Lucas: It's a concern. Employment attorneys I've talked to say the key is documentation. Nebula documents every rehire decision with a memo explaining why the original termination doesn't predict future performance. They also have a clear re-probation period — 90 days where the employee can be let go without the same level of process. Luna: So it's not just a feel-good move. There's a real operational framework behind it. Lucas: Absolutely. And the numbers are compelling enough that I think we'll see more companies adopt this, especially as the labor market tightens. When you can't find good people externally, why not look at people who already proved they can do the work — even if they stumbled the first time? Luna: I have to admit, I was skeptical coming into this. But the situational performance point really resonates. I think about my own career — there were roles where I struggled not because I wasn't capable, but because the environment was wrong. A different manager, a different team, and I might have thrived. Lucas: That's exactly it. And the companies that get this right are the ones that separate the person from the context. They ask: Was this a bad employee, or was this a good employee in a bad situation? The answer isn't always clear, but the data suggests it's worth investigating. Luna: So what's the first step for a company that wants to try this? Should they just start mining their old HR records? Lucas: Start small. Pick one or two former employees who left under yellow-flag conditions, reach out informally, and see if there's interest. Don't make it a policy right away. Test the cultural reaction. And most importantly, be honest about why you're reaching out — acknowledge the past. If the employee feels like you're just pretending the firing never happened, they won't trust you. Luna: That honesty piece is crucial. I've heard stories where companies approached former employees and it felt so transactional — like, 'Hey, we need your skills, ignore that whole termination thing.' That's not going to work. Lucas: Right. It has to be genuine. And it has to come with a real commitment to making the second experience different. If you're not willing to change the conditions that led to the firing, don't make the call. Luna: I'm curious — are there any industries where this is more common? I'm thinking sales, maybe, where turnover is high and performance is very metric-driven. Lucas: Sales is actually one. Retail too. But the most interesting example I've seen is in nursing. Hospitals have started rehiring nurses who were let go for attendance issues during the pandemic, because the burnout was situational. With better support systems, those same nurses are performing at the top of their peer group. Luna: That's a powerful example. It shows that the 'bad employee' label is often too simplistic. Lucas: Exactly. And I think that's the takeaway here — we need to stop treating termination as a permanent judgment. Sometimes it's just a mismatch. And in a tight labor market, you can't afford to burn bridges with people who might be your best hire the second time around. Luna: So next time I'm reviewing a stack of resumes and thinking, 'I wish I had someone who already knew the industry,' maybe the answer is someone who already knew the company. Lucas: Maybe someone who already knew the company — and left. I think that's a good place to leave it. For Hiring & Firing with Fexingo, I'm Lucas. Luna: And I'm Luna. See you next time.