Ghosting at work is on the rise

Have you ever been ghosted by an employer? The answer is probably yes. Well, apparently, employers are now getting a taste of what it’s like on the receiving end of this. So, in other words, mutual professional(-ish) ghosting. During a scramble for talent amid a worker shortage, a recent survey said that 28% of workers said they’d ghosted an employer. This is compared to 19% two years before. And the stages range – some employees just stop replying, others don’t show up to work on their first day. #noshame

Key comments:

“Labour shortages have left employers pinched and desperate to hire, meaning they have to push out a ton of feelers online and may not be able to respond to everyone,” said Yuletta Pringle of the Society for Human Resource Management, based in the US. “On the employee side, there are so many job vacancies – they may be ghosting potential employers as they search for their ideal role and move around the recruitment process.”

“It can sometimes be harder to build a rapport with someone virtually,” said Craig Freedberg, a regional director at recruitment firm Robert Half based in London. “The emotional investment of traveling to meet someone for an in-person interview is difficult to replicate when you’re clicking on a calendar link from home, and it’s easier for employers to ghost when you’re losing that human, face-to-face element.”

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