Ghosting, Is It Today’s Worker New Way of Saying I’m Out?

By Delmar Johnson

Has it gotten that bad in the workplace? Or is the job place economy undeniably good? According to the New York Times this could possibly the best time for the American labor market in at least 18 years and maybe closer to 50.

Most of us have heard the word “ghosting” being associated with a bad date or ditching out on a party that you weren’t really into. But today it seems like ghosting (leaving without notice and nobody can find you) is on the rise in the workplace. It’s a term that doesn’t have longevity in the vernacular, so there is not a lot of stats on it, yet it is showing up in the industry across the nation. And since there aren’t many stats on it, I’ll just give you my take on what ghosting by employee is all about in the workplace today.

Now if you’ve done any type of job and been in the workforce for any length of time, you have probably heard the term “at will”. If you are employed at will, your employer does not need good cause to fire you. Doesn’t mean you don’t have rights under state and federal laws, because you do. But for the sake of this article, lets look at the very simplified perspective.

An employer can terminate your employment; however, I see “at will” as being a two-way street. Just as they have a right to fire you, you as the employee have your own will and option to leave when you feel like it.

Sometimes depending on your position and industry there may be some specific parameters around how you leave a job, for instance maybe a doctor or a tenured professor may require you to truly give notice not to have unnecessary backlash in leaving. Or maybe as a Corporate Executive, who has a parachute clause that’s attached to how they terminate their employment, it wouldn’t be very wise to just “ghost.”

However, if we look at it from a general working-class population, many employees may feel like they have not been treated properly, or they’re being underpaid and overworked, or could it be their work schedule has no flexibility and it’s affecting their life outside the workplace walls. Honestly there could be a plethora of things about why they’re choosing to ghost their employer. Now by society and workplace terms it’s always good etiquette to give the employer an advance notice no matter the reason you’re leaving. For example, a week or two-week notice; depending again on what type of job you have. Yes it may leave a bad taste in the employer’s mouth about how a worker left, but again let’s go back to the fact that if you are living in an at-will state which all states are, except Montana, the possibility of “ghosting” can and obviously will occur.

Again at-will truly can apply to both sides of the fence, even when the job market seems strong and the economy is seemingly booming. Today there are so many ways to make a living and earn the type of income you as an individual believe you deserve, whether through a job or entrepreneurship.

Ghosting to be clear, is not necessarily something I agree with or would do myself. Hey, I have 25 years in this HR game, so there’s a certain way that I conduct myself however, I also see this as we are living in a time now where people are choosing to live their life very differently then maybe 20 or 30 years ago in the workplace.

The economy may be better for some and the job market may be better for others; however people personally I would venture to say are dealing with other things outside of the workplace, like illness mental-health issues, family issues, could again be so many things that they’ve even lost a concentration in the workplace and they have consciously decided you know what “I’m going it figure it out in my own way.” So as an HR consultant to entrepreneurs and small-business, I will continue to look at how this new way of leaving employer, ghosting, as it’s being called and how it is truly going to affect the workplace.