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Ghosting: Not Just at Halloween

The latest employee phenomena that is taking over the workforce

Ghosting began many years ago when children would ring the doorbell around Halloween and run away to remain anonymous, leaving a gift bag of candy to neighbors and friends. Then, it became prominent in the dating scene as dating apps became more popular, men and women would find themselves getting ghosted before or immediately following a first date, even if it was a great date!

Now, Ghosting is finding its way into the workplace. According to LinkedIn’s workforce report, starting in August of 2021 short tenure rates were up 9.7% year over year. Employees are quitting jobs within a year of starting and some even before their first day.

In the contact center space, companies experience ghosting at a next-level high. Some organizations see 50% of their new hires leave within the first 90 days of starting. A Career Builder survey reported the average cost to replace one ‘just out of training’ hire was $4,800. This means a contact center that hires 4,000 agents a year, spends on average 10.8 million dollars in replacement costs.

Is it really a new phenomenon or is it something that’s always existed and is just now gaining more attention? Jessica Stillman in her Inc. article explains how we may have seen the quick quitting trend in the past and why it’s increasing post-pandemic.

But, can ghosting be avoided? In short, yes! ghosting can be avoided when you have the right platform and programs in place beginning even before your employees’ first day. Good pay is a high priority for all but, what is equally important is a sense of purpose, belonging, connection and feeling valued in your organization.

At Centrical, we’ve helped our customers reduce early attrition by up to 30% and accelerate their onboarding by 50% with quicker time to proficiency. Our solution is designed from to engage and connect employees from the very first day through a personalized experience and gamification.

After implementing Centrical, Webhelp, a global BPO with over 100,000 agents was able to shrink short term absenteeism, a leading indicator of employee engagement and attrition, by 6%. Prior to Centrical, they also saw a 5-6% drop in customer satisfaction and other performance metrics as agents onboarded. Now with Centrical, there is hardly any decline and agents’ ramp-up and become productive twice as fast.

With Centrical, employee development doesn’t end with onboarding and nesting. Employees’ learning needs are met continuously. The platform delivers personalized microlearning in the flow of work to address individual knowledge and performance gaps and improve knowledge retention. We meet learners where they are and keep them motivated to learn daily.

Centrical also empowers managers to coach more effectively, creating stronger, more empathetic manager employee relationships and more connected teams. Teams using Centrical AI-driven performance and recognition insights and guided manager actions, increase coaching impact, while minimizing the administrative burden for managers.

Another way to prevent ghosting. Foster community and connection. Even as early as the hiring process. With so many new hires joining without ever meeting a colleague in person, it’s easy to think, who cares if I leave the training, do they even know me? For our customers using Centrical for onboarding, we encourage candid and direct feedback with onboarding micro-surveys and regular check-ins on wellbeing, workload, and clarity of goals. And we build connections by creating shared purpose, through healthy competition, social recognition, and knowledge sharing.

If you are experiencing the effects of ghosting in the workplace, reach out to us today! We can help you reduce early attrition and inspire your employees from the very beginning while guiding them through individual growth and success for years to come.

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