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In Booming Job Market, Workers Are 'Ghosting' Their Employers (washingtonpost.com)
A notorious millennial dating practice is starting to creep into the workplace: ghosting. Employers are noticing with increasing frequency that workers are leaving their jobs by simply not showing up and cutting off contact with their companies [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; syndicated source]. From a report: "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 usually applies to dating, first surfaced in 2016 on Dictionary.com. 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. Janitors, baristas, welders, accountants, engineers -- they're all in demand, said Michael Hicks, a labor economist at Ball State University in Indiana. More people may opt to skip tough conversations and slide right into the next thing.
Back in the 1990s, if you didn't switch employers every two or so years, you were considered someone who wasn't willing to "grow".
After the dot.bomb crash, you were a job hopper.
I never screwed over an employer - a couple screwed me over, though. But sticking to the high ground pays off. Future employers will realize they were dicks to you - some were ALSO screwed over - RIGHT fellow IBM'ers?!
Follow the Golden Rule as Confucius wrote over 3,000 years ago, and it'll work out in the end.
Yeah, there are some assholes out there who think you should sell your soul to your employer; but most? Nope.
Give two weeks notice - if it's that horrible that you have to leave immediately, consult a labor attorney and then listen to his advice.
Been through this shit and many asshole employers (And mostly great ones), and let me tell you, we workers are ALWAYS at a disadvantage.
Isn't this what your emergency contact is for? So they can contact your dad or brother and tell them you've dropped off the face of the earth, go to his house to see if he's dead in front of the computer, pantsdown.
I actually know someone this (similar) situation happened to. Guy didn't show up for work and no one could contact him which was out of his character. They send someone to check at his house and find him dead on the floor of a heart attack. Nice guy too.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
If you give two weeks notice. Then these companies want to do an exit interview to figure out why you're leaving and make you feel guilty for leaving because you're not showing showing dedication to company and team spirit. Fuck them.
I recently went to a competitor. I knew theyâ(TM)d walk me out the door ceremoniously. I saved myself the embarrassment and the company the assholishness and just resigned off-site and walked away.
My team was ready with the news and knew what to do do nothing terrible happened but why should I submit myself to the horseshit just so we can all pretend weâ(TM)re all playing nice?
Given that I've never even seen the same employer under 100 employees advertise the same job twice, it's pretty hard NOT to end up burning bridges, but this ghosting seems to take it to a whole new level.
Although, for a salaried employee with automatic deposit whose manager isn't paying much attention, it could be a profitable move, as you'd likely get a couple of pay periods out before they notice your job isn't being done.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Leaving a job doesn't burn the bridge. However most of the time people will not reapply back to the same company, unless it is large enough (over 100 employees) where there is a better position for them, because of their job growth withing that period of time in the middle.
2 out of 3 employers that I have worked for are out of business/sold merged to a different company. While I joke that I probably should had left better documents, most of the time the reason those companies had those issue was due leadership deciding to retire.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Then these companies want to do an exit interview to figure out why you're leaving and make you feel guilty
I have never heard of an exit interview trying to make anyone feel guilty. If they are going to try to convince you to stay, that would happen before the exit interview.
I have quit a few jobs. Each time I gave them a several page document that explained what I saw as the problems in their company and what I thought they should do to fix things. In at least one instance, many of my suggestions were implemented, and several of my ex-coworkers thanked me for writing the document, which management had circulated around the company.
Try to be part of the solution, instead of just a whiner.
Why would you give sound, actionable, FREE advice to your shitty ex-employer. If anything you should have been focused on gas-lighting the exit interviewer
I don't think people forget this at all. If you are professional, you want to leave with a good impression with the company. For good references, good relations with your fellow employees who may be hiring managers in the future, and if things go south, there may be an other company to get hired again with.
The main reason you give two weeks notice is so that people have time for knowledge transfer and your co-workers can make arrangements to pick up your workload. Even if you and all of your coworkers hate your managers and company, if you ever actually did any work and then disappeared, your coworkers are going to be scrambling to pick up the pieces and cursing your name. If your intention is to screw over your coworkers there are probably better ways to do so because they're just going to blame everything on you after you disappeared anyway because its not like you'll be around to defend yourself.
The majority of the time it is in your best interest to play nice. Sadly, that isn't always reciprocated. One time I left a job I hated for a new opportunity with a big fortune 500. 9 months later I was laid off because my new employer was constantly playing musical chairs at the executive level so every month priorities would change and entire departments would get cut to the bone. I tried crawling back to my old job, but I guess my old boss was so offended when I quit that she never returned any of my calls.
No one cares what your captcha was
Houston TX, USA
The WARN act in California only applies to layoffs/closures/relocations of more than some number/percentage of workers. It does not apply, for example, to individual "for cause" which is commonly used to get around the WARN acts - suddenly workers who have been getting good performance reviews for years, without warning, are told that their performance isn't good enough and they are being let go.Of course, this happens in waves that look suspiciously like layoffs by another name.
Why is there an "insightful" mod and why isn't it "-1"? If I wanted insight, I wouldn't be reading
You are naive. No company cares about you, they only care about money. If you provide ANYTHING to a company, you should demand payment for it.
I have over 30 years of experience in tech, mostly in Silicon Valley, but also a few years working for defense contractors in northern Virginia, and several years in East Asia (China and Japan). I am not naive.
During that time I have formed many deep friendships with managers, and with people I managed. The people at the companies I worked for certainly seemed to care about me, about my family, and about my professional development. Nearly everyone I have worked with has been decent and constructive.
I have also met a few cynical shitheads who contribute nothing, and often get themselves into toxic situations that confirm their world view. You sound like one of these.