How to Handle “Ghosting”
There has been a new, eyebrow-raising trend in the workplace in recent years: Employers are being “ghosted” by employees.
“Ghosting” is a slang term for job abandonment in the business world.
Employees simply vanish without a word, silently moving on to their next endeavor, rather than giving the polite notice of two weeks or any notice at all.
With the right payroll software, you can monitor employee performance closely and anticipate ghosting before it occurs. Nonetheless, it is essential to comprehend why it occurs in the first place.
What causes Ghosting?
Because they believe ghosting their employers won’t come back to haunt them, these employees feel comfortable quitting their jobs.
Some workers have the upper hand due to labor shortages and the extremely high demand for skills, leaving no incentive for them to depart politely.
These employees are unconcerned about a negative reference, so their former employer’s frantic search for coverage is irrelevant to them.
Along with ghosting, some employees also take the time to express their disapproval, usually online, listing grievance after grievance against their old employer to anyone who might be interested.
To find out what current and former employees have to say about their working conditions, prospective employees need only conduct an internet search for the name of their potential employer.
The fact of the matter is that workers are quitting their jobs in record numbers.
Employers are looking for effective ways to keep talented people in their organizations and encourage positive brand messaging from their employees because there are so many workers jumping from job to job looking for better compensation, career growth, improved cultural fit, or just something different.
The Benefits and Drawbacks of the Employee/Employer Relationship
Employers can best attract and keep motivated, hard-working employees by being helpful to them.
This can be accomplished by offering things like coaching, career and skill development, meaningful work, praise and appreciation, community, and financial rewards for an organization’s success.
Because the employment relationship is primarily about usefulness, these benefits are significant. Employee retention will be boosted by an employer’s ability to be more helpful to its workforce and to meet their wants and needs.
Unfortunately, this foundation of the employment relationship is also the reason why employees and employers rarely get along.
This is why some workers leave without saying a word or, worse, with a tirade directed at their employer. People are motivated to work through their conflicting interests with respect, care, and a willingness to compromise when they have personal connections.
There is no incentive to be courteous and understanding when conflicts arise or when one party ceases to be of use if their relationship is only about utility or if the other person’s temporary usefulness is all that matters.
The relationship can be thrown away in the same way that you would throw away a broken key, a dead battery, or another thing that is no longer useful.
Furthermore, no matter what an employer does, some employees will leave.
Even if it isn’t always possible to keep employees, employers can still try to make departures easy and pleasant to cut down on turnover costs and encourage former employees to praise the company.
HR’s Role in Retaining and Terminating Employees
When the time comes, there are a few polite ways to say “goodbye”:
1. Early intervention for poor employee performance.
When an employee fails to complete their work or otherwise meet expectations, firing them is frequently the simplest option.
However, the employee goes home with a bad attitude and the employer doesn’t have enough coverage when they are fired right away, especially if the employer didn’t give them any notice or guidance on how to improve their performance.
The employee may launch into a public online rant or file an unlawful termination claim if they are feeling particularly retaliatory. You can put the employee on a plan to improve their performance as an alternative to terminating them immediately.
It would benefit both you and the employee if it were successful; And even if it weren’t, it would at least demonstrate a sincere effort to give the employee a chance to grow, reducing liability in the event that termination is necessary. You can use performance management software to find out if they’re getting better.
2. Solicit feedback from employees
As you may be aware, the majority of employees in the United States are either actively disengaged or unengaged. Employees who are disengaged are more likely to complain to their employers about their jobs, bosses, or other work-related issues.
It might be worthwhile to address some of their complaints, which may be valid. However, if employees only communicate with one another or with people outside the company, employers are unable to address the specific issues and the negativity only grows. You will be able to keep track of complaints that have been submitted and determine whether they have been addressed satisfactorily if you use HRM software with payroll.
The remedy: Work together with employees to find and fix workplace issues.
You can request direct input through reviews, interviews, post-employment surveys, and standard registrations among administrators and subordinates.
However, employees will only be willing to voice their concerns if they are confident that it is safe to do so and that their employer will at least make an honest effort to address them.
3. Say goodbye in style
It can be difficult and heartbreaking when good employees leave their jobs. Even if it’s just an email sent to everyone at the company, both the departing and remaining employees will appreciate a nice send-off.
It demonstrates how much you care about your employees’ personal and professional growth when you celebrate their bittersweet accomplishments.
With goodwill and a positive impression of their time at your organization, they move on without tension or fanfare.
It would be wonderful for employers to be able to keep good employees, but this is not always possible.
Since some employees, both those who perform well and those who don’t, will eventually leave the company, it’s in their best interest to make these terminations as easy and respectful as possible.
That makes it less likely that disengaged employees will leave their jobs or express their dissatisfaction loudly to customers, job candidates, or anyone else who will listen.
Prevent Ghosting with HR software
Create and personalize an Employee Handbook with Netchex’s HR and payroll management solution to prevent ghosting. Templates and concepts that can be changed are included in our client library of resources to help you start using the right Handbook for your business.
Leave a Reply