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In today’s battle for good talent, it’s easy for employees to wonder if the grass might be greener at a new company. Leaving a company can teach employees important lessons and give them new skills. But perhaps the most important lesson to be learned is that sometimes, there’s no place like home. Take it from these five boomerang employees, who left for new experiences but found themselves coming back home to CHG.
Andrea Siska: From admin assistant to senior manager of licensing and credentialing
Andrea began her career with CompHealth Allied in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 2006 as an administrative assistant. Over the next 15 years, she took on various roles, including licensing coordinator, licensing supervisor, and senior manager of licensing and credentialing.
In 2021, amidst changes in her division, Andrea decided to explore new opportunities outside of CHG. She ended up joining Priority Health, a Michigan-based health plan, as the manager of operations for credentialing and enrollment.
Andrea characterizes her time at Priority Health as “an amazing learning experience.” She also shared the values and culture she’d learned at CHG, and she used those lessons to drastically improve her team’s engagement score within a short time.
Despite this, Andrea continued to think about CHG. “I quickly realized how special it is at CHG. It’s an organization that truly puts people first and thrives doing so,” she says. “I was craving that family dynamic and CHG’s commitment to its people. It just doesn’t exist like this anywhere else.”
After two years, Andrea reached out to her former leaders, expressing her desire to come back. Within several weeks, she had been hired to continue her work in credentialing and licensing. “They trusted me and valued what I brought to the table,” she says of her return.
A single text from a colleague she’d known for 18 years confirmed she’d made the right decision. “Welcome home,” the message read.
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Megan Peters: From marketing to Montana to mastering a new role
Megan Peters started at CHG right after graduating from Westminster College. In her first role as a marketing coordinator, she supported the CompHealth business. Over the next four years, she grew into the role of assistant brand manager.
Megan got an itch to try the tech scene and wanted to be closer to family in Colorado. As a brand manager, she had gotten the opportunity to work on the CompHealth website. This whet her appetite for product management, so she decided to try her hand at product management. This led her to pack up and move to Colorado when her friend connected her to a tech company. She said goodbye to CHG.
However, Megan found the new role to be competitive, which contrasts with CHG's collaborative and warm culture.
“People weren’t there to support one another and grow,” said Megan. After that realization, she decided to leave her position — right in the middle of a global pandemic.
Later that summer, she wanted to return to CHG, but there weren’t any open roles. So, she enrolled in the AmeriCorps Vista program. She found a volunteer role that met her desire to live in Montana and pursue her passion for early childhood development. Working for a local coalition, she brought early childhood organizations together to pool best practices and organize resources.
When her year with AmeriCorps ended, Megan briefly worked for a small non-profit. However, she missed the large-scale impact she was able to make with CHG.
On her birthday, she saw that CHG had a delivery manager position open. It was a job that required knowledge in change management, finding solutions, and managing processes. In essence, it was a combination of all her previous experiences. Her former coworkers at CHG encouraged her to apply.
“Even after I left CHG, I’d still come back to visit at the building, and I kept in touch with a bunch of people over social media,” said Megan.
That community is what Megan loves most about CHG. Even though she’s working fully remotely, she explained that she still feels part of the CHG community.
Sometimes the perception is that boomerang employees made a mistake. Megan doesn’t see it that way.
“There was a lot that I learned as a result, and it provided a lot of clarity. Plus, if I hadn’t left CHG and ended up coming to Montana during a pandemic, I wouldn’t have met my husband. So, there are a lot of good personal reasons that came out of it.”
Austin Whitaker: From web product manager to PDE product manager
Austin began his career at CHG in November 2017 as a product manager on the web team. Over the next three and a half years, he managed web products across all of CHG’s brands.
After finishing grad school, Austin decided he was ready to try something different. That led him to join the team at Homie, an online real estate company, as a senior product manager.
Unfortunately, after several months, he was laid off — like many others in the tech industry — and eventually worked at three companies in as many years. “It was a bumpy time away,” says Austin.
Fortunately, he had stayed in contact with his former colleagues at CHG, which played a significant role in his decision to return. One of them reached out to him about a new opportunity, and in March 2024 Austin rejoined CHG as a product manager on the PDE team, focusing on the new provider native app.
The stability and supportive culture at CHG were major draws for him, especially after experiencing the uncertainties of the tech sector. “Healthcare isn’t as reactionary as some of the tech companies I was at,” he says. “I think I took it for granted.”
His new role has allowed him to see a different side of the business and work on new challenges while continuing to enjoy all the benefits of working at CHG.
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Mitch Daley: Marketing writer to internal communications
Mitch Daley started at CHG by writing web job descriptions for the CompHealth job board for physicians. He had been working for CHG for three years when a friend at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business recommended he apply for a marketing role there.
“I wasn't looking to leave the company,” explained Mitch. “I really loved what I was doing. I just try and listen to the frequencies of the universe and when this opportunity came up, I thought maybe that meant I needed to try and grow and expand and get a different experience.”
He had a great experience during the year that he was there, but it didn’t feel like the right match in terms of Mitch’s skills and the day-to-day aspects of the job.
Mitch also felt like there wasn’t as much opportunity to grow as there was at CHG.
“When I was at CHG, I had so many development opportunities,” said Mitch. “But at my new role, there wasn’t a plan to expand on my value and development. I just didn't have as good of self-worth in that position as I did when I was at CHG.”
In December of 2021, some CHG employees reached out to Mitch to let him know that a position was open.
“I thought, I’m listening to the frequencies of the universe again. It was a life preserver I didn't know I needed.”
Mitch explained that he immediately felt that sense of value in the interviews. Everyone recognized him and expressed how happy they were at the prospect of him joining the team again. Soon, he was offered and accepted a role on the corporate communications team, and he was officially a boomerang employee.
“It was as if those 14 months never really happened,” said Mitch.
Gavin Hunter: Provider rep to Global Medical Staffing sales manager
Gavin Hunter started at CHG in 2005 and was there for 13 years. He went from a provider rep to a people leadership role before leaving for another opportunity. Gavin felt it was time to try something new, and he found a sales position for a communications technology company where the whole United States was his territory.
At the time, CHG had a benefit where if you left the company but came back within six months, you returned with the same benefit status as you had when you left. This benefit speaks to how many boomerang employees CHG has, and how much CHG welcomes them back. And for Gavin, knowing about that benefit kept him tied to CHG after he started his new role.
Gavin kept in touch with his CHG leader, and when he explained that his new job required much more travel than expected, his leader recommended he return to CHG.
Gavin was one of the faster boomerang employees; six months after he left, Gavin ended up in a new role with Global Medical Staffing, which excited him since it was a new business for him.
“It was almost starting everything from the ground up.”
At his sales job, Gavin was traveling the country to the extent that sometimes, he’d see three cities in a week. But he also felt disconnected from the other people at the company — and his family. At CHG, he went into the office and mingled with his coworkers. And after 13 years, those coworkers had become family.
“I’m glad I came back. It’s hard, it’s a grind, but it’s what we do, and I love the challenge. I think it’s who I am now,” said Gavin.
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