In today’s modern dating culture, ghosting is nothing new. Basically, ghosting is the practice of ending a relationship by stopping all contact and communication with a partner without apparent warning or explanation. However, this social phenomenon is increasingly making its way into the workplace — and put into practice by both the employers and employees

Harrison Ochieng, a teacher by profession intimates that he has been ghosted a couple of times by potential employers.

“I have been ghosted by potential employers several times. You apply, you are invited for the first interview, then shortlisted for a second interview and you feel the chance of getting your dream job is high. You are guaranteed you would be joining the team and the only thing you have to do is wait for that email or phone call to confirm when you will be reporting to your new place of work. Only that it doesn’t happen. You just hear rumours later that people were employed and have started working. The employer assumes that since you have not signed the employment contract, you have not been considered, and honestly, it is really disappointing,” shares Harrison, who is currently self employed, after several trials.

Possible reasons

Ghosting in the workplace is becoming increasingly a common phenomenon. Human Resource (HR) practitioner Winnie Miseda suggests that the ghosting trend might be fueled by several factors including; the workload on HR desks, company bureaucracies­­—advert for formality or just human error.

Employers, she says, sometimes just don’t have enough time to respond. Secondly, some candidates fake information in their resume, which is sometimes caught last minute — so employers don’t want to embarrass them — they choose to ignore,which is more polite.

“Sometimes there is a surge of candidates for the advertised position. For instance, you may have 100 candidates for one position and as the employer, you are working with a timeline. You will first contact those who are shortlisted. Usually, the top three depending on the position. Some candidates are also not serious. They use non existing email addresses or unprofessional mails. This is a career, for crying out loud. Something that speaks about you. This tells your level of seriousness and professionalism,” she shares.

 In some instances, Winnie intimates that some positions are advertised, and then later called off. It becomes rather hard to start explaining to several candidates the reason it was called off. In addition to this, the expert says some candidates’ responses could disqualify them for not only the position, but even the second interview, thus making their applications dead on arrival.

“Sometimes, the employer has seen no fitting candidates and due to deadlines, the desk is overwhelmed, you can either forget or just ignore. We are human beings. Contacting many people on regrets, yet you haven’t gotten a suitable candidate is not that simple,” she says.

The recruitment process has also become digitised and potential employees can send off resumes for multiple jobs more effortlessly than ever. Virtual interviews, she says, have improved accessibility, increasing opportunities for employers and workers to find the best fit. However, this convenience comes with its challenges. Employers have to deal with a lot of applications, which simply means they just can’t get back to everyone.

According to psychologist Tracy Nyaguthii, it does not matter what the reasons for ghosting are — it is a bad behaviour and it goes against proper ethical practices in the work place.

 More options

And it is not just the employers that are ghosting — employees have equally cultivated a ghosting culture. Employers are concerned about the growing trend of candidates who don’t show up to scheduled interviews, don’t arrive on the first day of work or even quit without giving notice.

She says a large percentage of Generation Z and Millennials quit their jobs without notice and accept job offers only to back out from the job suddenly.

“These generations are socialised to feel special that they do not need to follow conventional rules of behaviour. Before Covid-19 pandemic, ghosting was becoming more prevalent with job applicants. There were many job openings and a few candidates leading to job applicants ghosting as they settle for their ideal positions. The pandemic led to massive redundancies. But when the economy opened, there were many job openings and applicants may well be swamped, too. Covid-19 also showed it is possible to work remotely, so employees are seeking jobs globally. If they have multiple openings on the go, it can be easier to simply ignore a few of them. Employees are looking for favourable conditions in the work place. Currently one of the challenges that employers are dealing with is retention of employees,” shares Tracy.

Expensive, frustrating habit

The expert says ghosting can be difficult on both the employee and the employer because people put in time to prepare for interviews and the communication that goes with the process of hiring or getting a job. Ghosting is not only frustrating for employers and recruiters, it’s also expensive. It causes lost productivity, as hard-to-fill jobs stay open longer than anticipated. Ghosting is also difficult on the employer who has hired an employee for months or years then one day they leave without notice.

When people are ghosted most of the times, they take it personally wondering whether or not they were good enough.

“The social, economic and psychological effects of the pandemic were hard on many people. Some are still dealing with these stressful effects and are managing by avoiding conflict or discomfort. Therefore, the last thing an employee needs is a work place that is toxic or stressful,” the expert stresses.