There's a flip side to this. Academia's hiring practices inherently prevent talented people from returning to academia. Hiring is slow (it takes at least six months), and it is absolutely contingent upon the candidate having a great publication record.
When you leave for more than a year or so, it's a one-way ticket out. As an academic, I would love to have greater liquidity in the industry/academia job market.
In the UK certain academic disciplines have a long record of post docs disappearing off for a few years and then coming back, often driving a nicer car. Being publicly funded universities probably helps, but all it takes is establishing a relationship with the university in question. There's enough DOD grant money out there that if they wanted to they could probably change academic hiring practices to support that process. So could private industries for that matter.
I have occasionally applied for (non-academia) software development jobs at universities, usually in relation to the health care sector.
It takes all of them at least a month to even set up an initial phone screen, and some can't even manage that. Also, they tend to pay way below market wages.
It's not just the hiring practices for researchers and professors. That idiocy likely extends all the way down to the part-time gardeners. You can't afford to endure the process unless you already have a job.
The only reason universities can get away with this is because they are largely protected from competition, and are usually the largest single employer in whatever city they may be in.
I work at a university as a software dev. I got offered the job, interviewed, and started working in a couple weeks. It was actually a very seamless process.
The pay for my area is comparable to private jobs, but I don't get all the startups benefits like pingpong and snacks. It's just a basic office job. The good part though is that there is no bureaucracy and I have free roam to develop in any environment I want.
I'm not an academic but I work for one. If that makes sense.
When you leave for more than a year or so, it's a one-way ticket out. As an academic, I would love to have greater liquidity in the industry/academia job market.