We believe that if someone was to decide to leave, they should have the freedom to go any company. And if at any point in time they decide to come back, they should have the freedom of coming to our company without any non-compete hanging over their necks. And we want to build a culture that no matter the case that led them away or astray, that we build the right environment to both protect those who stayed, but also in awareness that the person still chose to come back. And this is because we have to be real. Some people might try to sell inner data, and that causes them to then leave or be fired. And then after a couple of years, after the time that we will also have as a rule for something like that, where they cannot get rehired for a time at SHS, (prison revearsed) or someone just chooses to leave and try something different. Or maybe they go and try their own business, and then maybe they choose to come back. Whatever the case might be, we want to build an infrastructure that they can come back respectfully to those who might have been on a waiting list for the roles that they would like to come back to, or the roles that they left. Because we understand that what we’re building is something quite unique and gives a lot of access and elevates, with just one agreement, the whole state of someone’s life, the whole lifestyle, there you go. And because of that, we understand that we need to have waiting list for specific roles that people might want to be part of SHS, so that if we ever need them, either in substitution, or for expansions, or for consultations, or whatever, in alignment with the specific role that they put themselves on a waiting list for, that it is there to be accessible for them, but also for us to cut time of on recruitment processes. If we already have a waiting list, that we vet the waiting list over time, and we focus on creating something that’s of value. We know that that waiting list will continuously fill up. And we also give almost like the chocolate factory ticket, golden ticket to life to someone. At least that’s how I would personally feel if I was to be given the ability or possibility to enter into this company, because I’m creating a company that not just I would want, but also a lot of people have been desiring, and we’ve just not seen it yet.

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We believe that if someone chooses to leave SHS, they should have the freedom to work for any company. And if one day they want to return, they should be able to approach us without another employer’s non-compete hanging around their neck.

That freedom needs to work in both directions.

Go and experience something different. Try another company. Build your own business. Discover something about yourself that you could only discover by going.

Why should leaving have to mean that you can never come back?

I want us to build a culture that can recognise the value of someone choosing to return, while protecting the people who stayed and respecting those who have been waiting for their opportunity to join.

Because we also have to be real about the different circumstances in which people leave.

Someone might leave on excellent terms. Someone might want a different life. Someone might misuse their access or try to sell internal information, and that might lead to their dismissal.

Those situations require different responses.

For serious breaches, we will have rules, including a defined period during which someone cannot be rehired. Returning after that period would require consideration of what happened, what has changed, and what is needed to protect the people and environment they are asking to rejoin.

The fact that someone wants to come back matters. So does what their return means for everybody else.

And there is another person in this picture: the person who has been waiting.

If you leave a role and later decide you want it again, there may already be someone who has spent that time preparing for an opportunity. Someone who has put themselves forward, remained available and gone through our process.

We must respect them too.

This is why I want SHS to maintain waiting lists for specific roles, with people assessed over time, so that we already have a relationship with potential contributors when opportunities arise.

An opening might come through someone leaving, a temporary substitution, an expansion, a consultation or another need connected to that person’s role and abilities.

Why begin the entire search from scratch every time, when there are already people telling us, “This is where I want to contribute”?

Build the infrastructure to recognise them. Keep that connection alive. Make it easier for them to access opportunities and easier for us to find the people we need.

Returning employees would enter that structure with respect for the people already within it. Their previous place in SHS would be part of their history, alongside the circumstances of their departure and the contribution they could make now.

Because I understand the scale of what we are creating.

The intention is that one agreement can elevate someone’s whole lifestyle: their work, their surroundings, their access to learning, their stability and their ability to create.

That is why I believe people will want to join. And why, as we build something of value, I expect those waiting lists to keep growing.

To me, receiving that opportunity would feel almost like finding the golden ticket in the chocolate factory.

A golden ticket to a life I had hoped could exist.

I say that because I am creating a company I would want to join myself. A company that brings together things so many people have been desiring, but have yet to experience together.

And within that company, there must still be room for people to explore life beyond it.

Room to leave. Room to grow. Room to ask to return.

With freedom for the person leaving, protection for the people staying, and respect for the people waiting.

SHS – Human First
Susan Ndinga Wright