Remote Company CEO Shares Her Tips to Keep Ghosting Employees at Bay
Ghosting is a term we hear about a lot these days. Maybe you’ve heard some tricklings about how ghosting is causing a stir in the workplace. It seems people are able to detach themselves more and feel less accountability in communicating the end of their relationships, whether personal or professional.
An article published by USA Today reported that 20 to 50% of job applicants and workers pull no-shows or ghost work in some form or fashion. Ghosting in the workplace is an ever-growing concern for employers. The number of candidates who don’t show up to scheduled interviews, don’t arrive on the first day of work, or quit without providing any notice continues to increase. This trend has most recently been coined “ghosting” in the workplace, and yes, it’s just like when a romantic interest disappears without any communication as to why. It is also easier than ever, with remote and hybrid offices now the norm.
Non-competitive wages, poor working conditions, a lack of diversity, digital flexibility, and lousy company leadership are a few reasons employees are ghosting. Still, once a company becomes aware of these problems, they can work toward preventing these scenarios.
With the new makeup of the hybrid workplace, it’s more important than ever to build strong and healthy relationships with your talent, from entry-level and beyond. Hence, employees feel connected to their work through healthy company culture.
I am the President and founder of Elkordy Global Strategies, a full-service boutique PR firm launched during the COVID-19 pandemic. We understand these challenges. As a remote company, we realized that these are uniquely challenging issues when you do not have an office to see your team. I have worked hard to prevent ghosting in the firm, and I’m here to share my top tips for avoiding ghosting in your workplace.
Communicate with potential employees early and often. Communication is essential to prevent ghosting. Ghosting is a lapse in contact, so maintaining a connection will help. To avoid being ghosted, companies must ensure an open and transparent communication pathway between them and the recruits. Clearly state your expectations and what you are willing to offer the candidate.
Introduce and acclimate new hires. An employee’s first few weeks on the job set the foundation for the rest of the employment relationship. During this time, communicate what the employee can expect from you and what you should expect from them. Make this communication clear and create a safe space and open door policy so employees can ask questions as they acclimate to their new position.
Mentor your employees. More than just keeping the line of communication between you and your team open; it’s a way to help develop their skills and explore new growth opportunities. As the saying goes, “you don’t leave jobs; you leave managers.”
Companies must learn how to best equip managers with the tools and expertise to succeed in this new world of work. Team leaders are now expected to have individualized cultures for each person they’re managing versus an overriding culture.
Mentoring programs can be both engaging for senior employees who feel exhausted and newcomers who want to think that the company takes care of them. Mentoring is about collaboration and building relations between the mentee and the mentor. The mentor develops his leadership skills while the mentee adopts relevant knowledge and insights.
Engage employees throughout their tenure with the company. The key to meaningfully engaging employees is to talk to them and find out how they enjoy receiving feedback, how they want to be recognized, what they value most about the office environment, and what they’re passionate about.
Most team leaders and executives manage their workers relying on quantitative factors – sales plans, KPIs, job descriptions, etc. They tend to forget they are working with people and ignore their emotional feelings.
Recognize and reward. Recognition is a simple, low-cost way to improve employee retention. Positive feedback demonstrates that you value an employee’s contributions and can motivate co-workers to emulate the rewarded behavior.
Create opportunities where their passion can work for you. Communicating with your team to see where their passions lie outside their work scope will help you see where you can fit in the topics and work that speaks to them daily.
As some employees seem to feel the freedom to “ghost” their employers, the above steps will help weed out those workers and prevent top talent from losing a connection to the company or at least the respect to end the working relationship more communicatively. It’s important to note that the primary driver for success as a manager in any job is your ability to deal with people and allow them to feel safe enough to communicate with you. It’s not just about the work but how you make your employees feel. Do they feel heard? Valued? Understood and cared about? Allowing employees to feel like they can express their concerns and communicate is half the battle.
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Mary Elizabeth Elkordy
Mary Elizabeth Elkordy is President and founder of Elkordy Global Strategies, a full-service boutique PR firm launched during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mary Elizabeth Elkordy began her career on Capitol Hill working for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign and Senate office before starting as a Production Director for legendary talk station WABC-AM in New York City. Since 2016, Mary has produced and co-hosts DL Hughley’s podcast, The Hughley Truth. In 2014, she became a TEDx speaker and was City and State Magazine’s youngest person ever to receive top “40 Under 40″ in New York State at the age of 24. Today, Mary has expanded her startup company into a well-versed firm working with clients ranging from Fortune 500s to nonprofits, featured in some of the top tier media publications globally.
