Rehiring is a common scenario where a worker who has previously worked with your organisation returns for a new role or engagement. This article explains how to manage rehires effectively, reuse valid checks, and reinitiate any new checks where necessary.
Overview
When bringing back a previous worker, you’ll want to ensure their compliance is both complete and current. Depending on how the worker is reintroduced into your system, they may be treated as a completely new applicant, an offboarded worker, or simply have a re-activated profile without a new application.
There are three main rehire scenarios outlined below.
Rehire Scenarios
Scenario 1: Worker Not Previously in Zipline or Using a Different Unique ID
If the worker was never in Zipline, or is being rehired using a different Unique ID (e.g. new Employee ID), they will be treated as a completely new candidate ("Applying" lifecycle).
In this case:
A new application is created.
The worker will progress through the full compliance flow, just like any other new candidate.
All checks required for the role are created from scratch.
This ensures there’s no risk of mismatched data between profiles with different identifiers.
Scenario 2: Worker Previously in Zipline (Offboarded Profile)
If the worker was previously in your organisation’s Zipline instance, they’ll appear as an Offboarded Worker.
When you create a new application for this worker:
The system will reuse existing valid checks that remain on the profile and are still compliant based on your organisation’s settings in Zipline. These checks will appear in "Already Managed Checks" on the application.
Any checks that are required as part of the target compliance flow but not currently on the worker’s profile will be automatically added to the new application. There’s no need to manually add them.
You can use the Add New Check feature if you want to reinitiate certain checks (e.g. police check older than 3 months) even if they’re valid in the system. This is to cater for scenarios where you have special business rules for re-hires.
Note: Any checks previously destroyed under your organisation’s data destruction policy will not be brought across. These will be reinitiated.
Scenario 3: No New Application Created
In some cases, you may decide not to create a new application. For example, if the worker is simply being reactivated via your HRIS.
In these cases:
The relevant compliance flow will be automatically added to the worker's profile.
You can review and update checks directly in the worker’s profile.
Checks that remain valid and visible on the profile can continue to be used.
We do not recommend this approach, as it could result in missing key processes needed to confirm rehires are compliant.
Reinitiating Checks with the Add New Check Feature
You can use Add New Check within an application to reinitiate specific checks that are still valid in the system but need to be refreshed under your business rules.
For example, your business rules requires a new Police Check if the worker has been inactive for 3+ months.
Steps:
Open the worker’s Application.
Click Add New Check.
Select the check type to reinitiate, and the relevant check template.
This feature ensures you can enforce custom re-check requirements without duplicating existing valid data.
System Limitations and Roadmap
Currently, there are some limitations to how rehire scenarios are automated:
The system does not automatically apply complex business rules (e.g. “Reinitiate police check if older than 3 months”). These must be managed manually using Add New Check.
The system does not yet merge profiles where multiple records exist for the same worker (e.g. due to different Employee IDs).
Both automated business rules and profile merging are on the longer-term roadmap for improvement.
Summary
Rehires can enter your system in different ways - as new candidate, returning offboarded workers, or via direct profile reactivation. By reusing valid data, automatically pulling required checks, and selectively reinitiating others, you can streamline compliance while staying aligned with your business rules.
The Add New Check feature and automatic check assignment in new applications provide flexibility and control to manage rehires efficiently.