Never Slam the Door on Your Way Out. You Might Return One Day.

In this series, professionals share all the right — and wrong — ways to leave a job. Follow the stories here, and write your own (please include #IQuit somewhere in the body of your post).

Bloomberg L.P. is famous for a philosophy that anyone who quits the company cannot be rehired. They are not alone, as erring on the side of caution when considering re-hiring a former employee is pretty standard in most HR departments.

My travel company, Ovation Travel Group, currently employs more than 550 full-time people, and, while I certainly am not encouraging any of our people to quit (nor would I do a blanket re-hire of everyone who does), this is not a philosophy with which I agree.

As a CEO, I believe that deliberately leaving the door open for people who want to leave is both good for business and good for employees, and something that’s essential when considering the larger arc of a career. In short, I believe it is the sign of a healthy business.

I’m a firm believer that it’s incumbent upon Ovation as an employer to provide a holistic work environment that includes a fair salary, benefits, and a collegial atmosphere where people want to come to work. If you provide all of those things, people will want to stay with the company and go the extra mile; instead of walking out the door when their shift ends at 5 p.m., they’ll take that extra call.

It’s a free market out there, and particularly now with the unemployment rate going down and the economy improving, it’s even more important that we provide a compelling package so that people won’t want to look elsewhere. However, on the rare occasion that a great employee leaves us, we also leave the door open so that if things don’t work out we may hire you back.

Over the years, we have had people leave the company and then return at a later date. This is good because it does two things: The first is that it reassures the people in our company that the grass is not always greener on the other side. Yes, it can be a setback when someone great wants to move on, but when somebody leaves and then wants to come back, it’s a great opportunity to spread goodwill throughout the company.

Ovation has a very high retention rate in a difficult industry that tends to have somewhat of a revolving door. I think the reason why is because we strive to create loyalty by running a very professional business and encouraging a “family atmosphere,” where we take care of the people who take good care of our clients.

The second reason is that it can also give you a bird’s-eye view of what the competition is like, and that eventually helps your business improve. We have the same strategy with sales. When we lose a client, it can be tempting to say that we never want to do business with them again, to put it politely. But I think it is much more productive for everyone involved to say, “I am going to do everything possible to improve even though I’ve lost your business, because I want to be considered again in the event that things don’t work out with your new travel provider.” That has also happened many times — where a client has come back after leaving for a low-priced competitor, only to return when their service deteriorates and the travelers start complaining.