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Rehiring a former colleague

Learn how, as an HR admin, you rehire someone who worked for your company before. You don't create a new employee: you give the former colleague a new contract. That way their history, documents and reviews stay together.

How to do it

Go to People and click Add people → Add single colleague.
Enter the work email address the colleague used to have.
Heartsome recognises the address and shows "[name] worked here until [date]."
Click Rehire [name].
You land on a new contract, already filled in with the details of their last contract. Change what's different, such as the start date, job title and salary, and save it.

Coming back through a vacancy in Heartsome? It works the same way: enter their old work email address in the wizard.

Note: Heartsome only recognises a former colleague by their work email address. If you give them a different address than before, you'll end up with a second employee with the same name.

Opening their account again

The former colleague's account stays suspended. On Employment you'll see "[name]'s account is still suspended, so [name] can't log in to Heartsome." Should they be able to log in again? Go to People, click the three dots next to the colleague and choose Reactivate.

Admin roles they had before don't come back. Give them again if needed.

Their team and manager are as they were. Change them if needed, see Setting the team, manager and work location.

A former colleague you rehire doesn't get an onboarding checklist. If something still needs arranging, such as a new laptop, record it under Assets.

Coming back or renewal?

It matters whether there's a day in between:

The colleague really left, for example from 31 March to 1 September. Their leaving stays in their history and you rehire them as above.
The contract is renewed and follows straight on from the last day, for example a new contract from 1 July after a last day of 30 June. Then they never left. If the leaving is still open, cancel it first with Cancel leaving. If it's already closed, add the contract on Employment. Heartsome asks "Take back [name]'s leaving?" and takes the leaving back when you save. Their account opens again, without admin roles.

A renewal that starts on a Monday after a last day on a Friday counts as coming back, not as a renewal.

Who can do this?

HR admins and the account owner.

Updated on: 21/10/2026

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