Workers are ghosting their employers like bad dates

[brooklynite]

Washington Post:

Economists report that workers are starting to act like millennials on Tinder: They’re ditching jobs with nary a text.

“A number of contacts said that they had been ‘ghosted,’ a situation in which a worker stops coming to work without notice and then is impossible to contact,” the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago noted in December’s Beige Book, which tracks employment trends.

National data on economic “ghosting” is lacking. The term, which normally applies to dating, first surfaced on Dictionary.com in 2016. But companies across the country say silent exits are on the rise.

Analysts blame America’s increasingly tight labor market. Job openings have surpassed the number of seekers for eight straight months, and the unemployment rate has clung to a 49-year low of 3.7 percent since September.

Perhaps they don't feel loyal to their employer for some reason...

[Tom Rinaldo]

1. "Perhaps they don't feel loyal to their employer for some reason..."

ya think?

[HipChick]

2. I'm as loyal as the next paycheck..

and where its coming from..

[C_U_L8R]

3. Guess they don't care about references.

Let me know how that works out.

[we can do it]

4. Right to work bullshit also is right to quit.

Goes both ways. They want to fire with no reason or notice.

[BlueCaliDem]

15. Exactly.

[mitch96]

23. AGREE!!! The game goes both ways

I,my self have done it a few times.. If the employer says one thing and they after a week of employment I saw it was total bullshit.. .I'm gone. If they lie to me why should I give them the respect of a notice..
Then again that was when jobs in my field were plentiful... When prospective employers would ask about the laps in employment I would just say I was in school... They all bought it. Not a lie either.. I "learned" what bullshit the previous employer was and would "educate" others about it...
m

[blaze]

5. Or they already have another job lined up

[Sanity Claws]

9. That's what I think too

My guess is that they ghosted employers they wouldn’t put on their resume. A lot of new graduates are seriously underemployed

[JenniferJuniper]

19. Lots of companies won't give references these days

Good or bad. Afraid they'll be sued for slander.

[Quemado]

28. Exactly

A lot of them will only verify dates of employment. Nothing else.

[lunatica]

20. Or maybe they already have another job

On the other hand if you hate your job that badly chances are you know you won’t get a decent reference.

This is what happens to asshole bosses and jobs, not to good ones.

[HipChick]

21. References are not really used ...

even at corporate level, the only thing that is verified is pay level, and actual work dates..

[sunonmars]

24. Tbh Refs are worth less these days, a lot of employers dont even bother taking them up.

or even give them. Legally a lot them just say worked here from this to this and thats it.

[yardwork]

26. Many of these jobs are part-time, with no regular hours and no benefits.

References don't matter for those types of jobs, which are increasingly taking over the labor market.

When I graduated from college in the early 1980s I got a job as a server in a hotel restaurant. My schedule was posted a week in advance, I got to work 40 hours a week, and I got benefits. I got employer-paid health insurance! As a restaurant worker.

Those jobs are gone. Even the managers who run restaurants now aren't given regular schedules, full-time work, or benefits.

[Recursion]

30. Nobody gives references anymore because of liability issues

Most companies' HR and legal departments only let you confirm dates of employment nowadays. It makes hiring more irritating, but I get how we got there.

[underpants]

6. Well I learned a new word today

Thanks

[FSogol]

7. You just learned the word "thanks" today?

[underpants]

12. 😆

[FSogol]

8. I'm guessing this happens more at Hardees or the Gap than it happens at Martin Marrietta.

What companies sow, they will reap.

[zipplewrath]

31. To a great degree

There are enough jobs where you have to clear up various responsibilities such that you aren't liable for some future problem. You don't "ghost" your way out of those.

[Demsrule86]

34. My husband's company has seen well paid workers just disappear or quit without notice. The

younger folks simply feel little loyalty towards employers these days and why should they? Manufacturing is rough and some simply don't like it...and the overtime involved or the stress.

[Wounded Bear]

10. Companies have no qualms about canning people with no notice...

[gratuitous]

17. And those companies are praised in the business pages and shows

"They cut payroll, increased their dividend to their shareholders, smart business move! Good on them." Not mentioned: The former employees now looking for jobs that will almost surely pay them less, and starting out from rock bottom on health insurance, paid time off, and seniority. If the workers are mentioned at all, their layoffs are really their own fault, and they should get more education and better training (though how that's to be paid for is left unsaid).

But when workers make a similar economic calculation and shed a dead-end job, the business pages and shows are all a-fret about ungrateful, disloyal employees and the bind they put their poor employers in. There's never a word breathed about employers cleaning up their act, treating workers with respect, and paying them a living wage.

[lunatica]

22. Word!

Well said!

[Major Nikon]

35. My company will walk you out the door the moment you give notice

They are worried about people walking out with industry "secrets" and property. Moments after you send your notice via email your boss and the guard shows up to provide escort while you pack your shit and leave.

It's kinda nice in a way because as soon as you find another job you don't have to worry about sticking around to leave on decent terms.

[Aristus]

11. We'll call it "Right To Quit".

How does that sound, employers?

Not as fun for you as "Right To Work", I imagine. But that wasn't any fun for your employees.

Time for a little payback...

[Delmette2.0]

29. +1

[TeamPooka]

13. Missed opportunity to tell the bosses to take this job and shove it.

[Throck]

14. I guess if last paycheck is direct deposit this is possible.

My son left his last job a month ago. (He gave 2 weeks notice.) Since then he got the 2 week lag pay, then after auditing he got his unused vacation, then because of a contract settlement he got back pay from two years ago. For about a month he'll be collecting two checks.

(Son if you're reading this, save your money and move out of the house.)

[KPN]

18. Haha. "(Son if you're reading this, save your money and move out of the house.)"

I can relate to that!

[KPN]

16. Poor employers ... errr, slave holders.

[ck4829]

25. "Like bad dates"... Maybe because they are bad employers?

Last edited Thu Dec 13, 2018, 06:53 AM - Edit history (1)

[WhiskeyGrinder]

27. "At will" working.

[RandySF]

32. This will come back and bite then in the ass

[Quemado]

33. I learned this lesson 20 years ago

About 20 years ago, I went through a period of working for three employers in a short period of time (two years), and had numerous job interviews. It was then that I learned through experience, generally speaking, employers do not care one bit about employees. There are exceptions. Employers who care about their employees are in the minority.

It is in your (the employee) best interest not to give notice. One exception would be, if the employer respected you, then, and only then, would you even consider giving notice to the employer. If the employer was anything less than respectful, you owe that employer nothing, let alone notice of leaving.

If you are planning to leave a job, do not tell anyone, even trusted co-workers.

If you give notice, several negative things can happen. Once you tell an employer that you are leaving, the employer considers you to be yesterday's news. You've lost value in his or her eyes. If the employer did not like you, the employer might even try to sabotage your next job by contacting the future employer and tell them things that are not true about you.

If you give notice, the employer might try to retain your services by counter-offering your future employer's offer. You should never accept the counter-offer because the current employer is not really trying to retain you; he or she is trying to manage your departure.

IMO, the best way to handle your departure from a place of employment is to act every day as if nothing is different all the up to the last day. Two hours prior to the end of you last day, submit your signed letter of resignation to your supervisor. Two hours should be sufficient for your supervisor to out-process you (collecting keys, etc.).

[Jake Stern]

36. Ghosted a job

Worked for a discount retailer based in Ohio for two years. First year was wonderful but they brought in a new district manager who slashed hours to the bone. I was the front end supervisor and only averaged 16-20 hours a week. Waited until the end of my shift on my two anniversary then I left my uniform shirts on the break room table, blocked the stores number in my phone, quietly walked out and never looked back.