It’s not a good look, professionally or privately, but we’ve all fallen victim to it at one point or another.

Ghosting.

It’s the act of abruptly disappearing without warning. When it happens among friends or romantic interests, it can spawn sub-tweets. When a company does it, it can damage the brand.

And yet, an increasing number of employers are doing just that, according to the results of a new report from the job site Indeed.

Everyone’s doing it?

Indeed surveyed 500 job seekers and 500 employers across the U.S., in several industries, and found more employers are ghosting people who are going through the interview process than ever before — but the same goes for employees.

“Ghosting seems to have grown in popularity amongst job seekers over the past year: 28 per cent have ghosted an employer, up from only 18 percent in 2019, reads an excerpt from the report.

“Meanwhile, 76 per cent of employers have been ghosted in the same time frame, and 57 per cent believe it’s even more common than before.”

Most candidates appear to be vanishing after an initial phone screening or interview, but a solid 25 per cent are going through the whole process only to be MIA on their first day of work.

But about those employers …

An astounding 77 per cent of job seekers say they’ve been ghosted by a prospective employer since the pandemic began (last!) March. That jives with the 27 per cent of employers that said they’ve never ghosted a seeker.

Adding more insult to injury, 10 per cent of seekers said they were ghosted after confirming a verbal job offer.

Communication matters, folks

It’s not clear what’s causing the ghost-a-thons. Coronavirus is a likely culprit but many of the survey respondents didn’t cite it as the reason. One thing we are starting to see, though, is that the pandemic can be straining employer/employee communication.

As early as the summer headlines about ‘cold-call Zoom firings‘ surfaced, an impersonal and traumatic experience that can leave employees feeling sidelined. We refer you to scooter rental startup Bird, which laid off 406 people in two minutes via video webinar near the start of the pandemic.

It’s a risky strategy, and companies need to be aware their actions may come back to bite them in the brave new world.

A January survey suggests 40 per cent of employees may be in a holding pattern, waiting out the pandemic and then re-evaluating.

The poll, which interviewed 1,500 office workers and 500 C-Suite executives, found that 86 per cent of executives thought their company “demonstrated commitment to their employees in 2020.” Meanwhile, 2 in 5 of the workers interviewed said they plan to resign based on how their company has handled the crisis.

Some of the biggest issues identified by employees were training, which 52 per cent of non-executives felt they didn’t receive enough of, and uncertainty. About 56 per cent of non-execs said they still have unanswered questions about their responsibilities.

The survey doesn’t say what types of careers employees are considering jumping ship for, but a separate, online poll conducted in October 2020 found about one-quarter of the 9,755 respondents have been considering a career change since the pandemic, and 2 in 5 female-identifying participants disclosed they’re interested in pursuing a career in a STEM field.