It can be tempting to write off departing employees. But many companies would be better off cultivating relationships with their former workers instead.
Some organizations do just that, creating corporate alumni networks to make it easier for former employees to engage with the company, their former colleagues and one another. Making alumni feel as if they are still part of the fold can lead to a host of benefits for companies, including rehires of top performers, brand advocacy, new business development, new-employee referrals and retained access to intellectual capital.
But turning former employees into loyal alumni isn’t as simple as launching a job board, networking event or a Facebook/LinkedIn group. To reap the benefits of an alumni network, companies must build a culture where alumni are celebrated, relationships with them are encouraged, and departing workers are treated with respect and gratitude, not anger or ambivalence. An alumni network without a supporting culture can backfire, leading to fewer benefits for companies—perhaps even some harm.
Here are some ways to build a healthy alumni network.
Build the culture
A positive alumni culture exists when everyone within the organization understands the value of alumni relationships and works to maintain them.
Companies can set the groundwork during the onboarding process—say, by telling new hires that they are joining “an elite group of current and former employees” and highlighting the accomplishments of both present and past employees. That sends the message that alumni are part of an extended family.
The company can reinforce that message with rituals such as going-away celebrations for departing employees, networking events that bring together current employees and alumni, and by inviting alumni to company-sponsored social events and milestone celebrations.
Boston Consulting Group uses the phrase “Once a BCGer, always a BCGer” to build its alumni culture. With about 33,000 alumni, the firm hosts regular networking events with both current and former employees.
Other firms regularly share stories in meetings or company newsletters about the accomplishments of former employees, such as how many have moved on to top leadership roles at other firms. Still others use their alumni networks as a type of employee-resource group to connect underrepresented workers with each other and set up potential mentoring opportunities.
Experiences like these help to build a positive culture surrounding alumni and solidify employees’ perceptions of the value of such relationships.
Get managers on board
The role of managers is especially important when it comes to implementing an alumni strategy. That’s because managers usually are the first to receive and respond to the news of a resignation, and how they react in that moment can determine whether a departing employee will or won’t want to be a resource to the company in the future. Current employees also will look to their managers for cues regarding how they should interact with alumni. For example, if line managers send mixed, ambivalent or negative messages about the value of such relationships—say, by disparaging former employees—a company’s alumni strategy will fail.
But when a manager in the resignation moment responds with, “It has been such an honor working with you, we will sure miss you,” or, “We know you will do great things, you always have a place here,” it can inspire the departing employee to want to reciprocate, perhaps by offering to help with onboarding the replacement hire or by providing an employee referral, among other things.
Of course, line managers have the most to lose when an employee resigns, so without support and training from leadership on how to handle these moments, companies can’t simply expect managers to respond in ways that cultivate alumni relationships.
One way leadership can help is by ensuring that managers receive formal training, including role-playing, on how to respond during the quit conversation. Also, recognizing and providing extra support for the unique hardships that a line manager faces when an employee departs—such as finding and training a replacement hire and figuring out how to cover for the departing employee until then—can be important in attenuating both the pain the manager feels and the knee-jerk negative response during the quit conversation.
Making managers accountable (whether through formal or informal incentives) for metrics such as how active their former employees are on alumni networks, what percentage of their former reports rejoin the company (boomerang hires are one of the important benefits of alumni networks) or how departing employees rate their quit conversations can help shape the appropriate behaviors.
Keep in touch
Providing opportunities for current employees and alumni to be in regular touch is important because these relationships are often the channel through which value travels back to companies.
For example, alumni with good feelings about a former employer might be willing to mentor employees currently doing the job they used to do. They also can be a source of business referrals for the company—especially in fields like accounting where alumni often leave large firms to work for clients. Having former employees work for clients helps to strengthen existing bonds and make the firm a preferred vendor for new business opportunities. Happy alumni also can act as brand advocates. Alumni have a significant impact on Glassdoor ratings, which can be a tremendous recruiting tool. PeoplePath—a corporate alumni network consulting firm—found that several Glassdoor approval ratings were significantly higher for firms with alumni networks.
Reduce the risks
To be sure, celebrating workers who are leaving and welcoming them back with open arms if they return could leave some current employees resentful, wondering if the company values their loyalty. To counteract such feelings, companies need to be sure that they are putting the majority of their focus on recognizing and celebrating people who don’t leave. Doing so will reinforce that while the company cares for alumni, current employees are the priority.
Another concern is employee poaching—that is, there is a real risk that alumni could use networking events to lure away former co-workers to their new employers. There also is a danger that some alumni might use connections with their former colleagues to extract business intelligence or opportunities for themselves, with no intention of reciprocating.
Alumni have no contractual obligation to act in the company’s interest, and alumni platforms typically provide little ability to monitor alumni opportunism, so this is a risk that firms must reckon with. But this is precisely why focusing on a positive alumni culture is so crucial when creating an alumni network. Culture affects actions in the absence of monitoring. When alumni are grateful for the experience and development they received at a former employer, and they continue to feel the love after they exit, the likelihood that they will act in ways that help, rather than harm, their former company will be drastically increased.
An increasingly mobile labor force is a modern reality. Although there are risks associated with having an alumni network, focusing on a positive alumni culture can help companies reap the benefits and curb the risks.