Houdini | In 2022, it's workers, not dates, who ghost the most

As if it weren't hard enough to find a candidate who's a great fit and wants to work for you, HRDs now have a new trend with which to contend: new hires simply not turning up. Lest you believe this is just a flash in the pan, sit up and take note – data from US-based Visier Group reported that 84% of adults have ghosted either a current or potential employer.

The data gets even weirder: the higher the position, the more likely a candidate is to ghost, or to just walk out one day and never return – 99% of senior VPs have done it, as well as 96% of C-suite staff. The study figures also show that men are far more likely to ghost than women (90% for men, 68%) for women – unsurprising behaviour when you consider that most study results have found men more likely to cheat than to leave an unhappy relationship. Conflict avoidance at super senior levels, though, has left thousands of would-be employers baffled.

Why are new hires ghosting?

According to the same Visier study, the top five reasons why new hires ghost either before they start or shortly after, are:

1. Low salary

2. Receiving a better offer

3. Inaccurate job role or description

4. Poor reputation or online reviews

5. Disliking the workplace culture

Sarah Wardle, Relationship Development Director for new hire onboarding firm Cathree, says that embedding the new person into your culture before they start is essential to avoid reneging.

“When candidates are accepting multiple offers from competitors, it is absolutely vital that you make your organisation stand out from everyone else. One way of doing this is to create a real connection with your new employee from the moment they apply, through to accepting their offer,” she explains.

“You can create this sense of belonging by giving people lots of opportunity to connect with new colleagues, managers and peers, and planning touchpoints throughout their onboarding journey. Allowing new joiners to explore useful content and be part of conversations and events before day one means they’re already embedded in your culture before they’ve even set foot through the door.”

Don’t be a jerk

While dodging a bullet or getting out of a toxic workplace is the right decision, there are ways to go about it. While HR candidates will rarely ghost, it’s still bound to happen occasionally, so the best advice for those who regret accepting a job is to communicate.

Sometimes you can be at the point of contract signing and get a surprise offer in. Other times, you can sign the contract and then realise that your new boss is a bad one. Either way, remember to stay professional. It’s easy to send a polite email, and you aren’t obligated to explain yourself.

Brett Downes, founder of SEO company Haro Helpers, told Executive Grapevine that he believes people are ghosting at an even higher rate now because everything is remote and it’s easy to “hide behind a screen”.

“We have actually found that ghosting seems to one of, if not the biggest, downsides to the rise of remote working, he said. “It can sometimes feel like people applying for remote roles (perhaps for the first time) don't believe professional decorum is required when you are not sharing the same space.

“Sadly, it is undeniable that since its peak around a year ago, we are now facing more hires than ever ghosting us just before they are due to start. All this after applying, going through the interview process, being offered the role, and then on their planned first day, they just…don't show up."

He continues: “This can be extremely frustrating for the team who have to work to cover them, not to mention taking away the opportunity to others who may have been turned down for the role. It is difficult and embarrassing to go back to a candidate we rejected telling them their competition didn’t turn up and asking if they’re still interested.”

So, while making the wrong decision and regretting it is as inevitable in your career as your dating life, it’s best to at least send a text and let ‘em down gently. If nothing else, it covers your bases, as burning bridges professionally is rarely a good call.

What can HR do to prevent new hire ghosting?

Bruce Groves, marketing director at recruitment software firm Eploy, says that HRDs simply have to accept that some candidates will ghost, despite best efforts, and that contingency planning is the way forward.

Speaking to Executive Grapevine, Groves had this to say: “The onboarding stage can play a big part in engaging with new hires and can help to increase the offer acceptance rate. OK, there is no way to eliminate drop-offs, but having a well-organised recruitment process and customised onboarding controlled online make a big difference.

Groves’ top tips to reduce candidate reneging are:

1. Be proactive – use recruitment tech to accelerate the recruitment process engagingly. Does your recruitment process emulate candidate expectations?

2. Candidate experience – review how the candidate experience differentiates you from the competition. Use regular communication with candidates, keep in touch calls and videos to keep hires ‘warm’. Also, make sure your careers site is spot on with everything a candidate may need.

3. Be upfront with candidates about the role early on; career path, the salary, benefits and perks of working for you.

4. Accept that losing candidates will happen in certain circumstances, and you will never completely eradicate it, but you can make improvements to prevent it from becoming the norm.

“The more you can do to improve your recruitment process and candidate experience,” he explains, “and to know your recruitment metrics such as offer acceptance rate and applicant to hire rate, the better placed you will be to put a strategy in place to improve.”