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Corporate India is rediscovering the value of old hands. 

In Gurugram, ITC Hotels is considering an alumni gathering soon, its first, officially at least, in over 50 years. In Bengaluru, Xooglers, as former Google employees call themselves, are reuniting in June for “Demo Day”, which gets them together with promising startups and investors to pitch ideas and, hopefully, secure funding. At a previous alumni meet some time back, Xooglers were advised on borrowing against their Google stock to invest in “more intelligent ways” and, thus, generate an alternative income source. A deal with a European firm, for example, allowed them to borrow against stock to invest in real estate. 

Several other companies told The Ken they had similar alumni events in the offing.

Each for their own reason: to rehire former employees, benefit from enhanced skillsets and knowledge, expand influence, build goodwill.

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Getting former employees back is a key incentive for many firms. It’s called “boomerang hiring”. 

And it’s all the rage apparently, increasing 20–25% year-on-year, according to Ankit Agarwala, managing director at Michael Page India. General hiring, in comparison, is recoveringEconomic TimesIndia hiring rises 15 pc in Dec; signalling shift to measured expansion: Report at about 15% year-on-year as of last December. 

The attraction isn’t hard to see: bringing back people who know the company and its ethos and who have gained wider experience while they have been gone is a safe bet in a market short of qualified talent. 

It’s a resource pool that has always been within reach of employers, but it hasn’t always been systematically tapped. 

Mature companies like Tata Group, ITC, Hindustan Unilever, and 

Asian PaintsThe KenThe Business of Colour: Asian Paints never really felt the need to build alumni networks as most of their employees were “lifers” who formed tightly knit groups that grew over decades into corporate India’s CEO factories. 

© The Ken