Whether you are in-office, hybrid, or remote, chances are according to several new studies(1) you are a Ghost Employee. What is a Ghost Employee you ask? Well, it’s a person who is disengaged in their job. They are easily distracted, play hooky a lot when working remotely, and in general don’t care about the work they are doing or the quality of the work. They are literally stealing money from the company. While the article cited above focuses more on remote employees, it is truly an issue regardless of work environment.
Blessedly, you really do have choices. Here are those choices:
1) Buckle up Buttercup – you chose to take the job, you are choosing to stay, they are paying you, do the job!
2) Change jobs – the obvious choice. Yes, job searching is difficult, but there are situations where your job is untenable. Why stay in that situation? Why continue to be disengaged, and likely taking the frustration out on your family and your health?
3) Change Careers – sometimes it’s the career you dislike. Why be “satisfied with the dissatisfaction” and continue in your current environment? There are over 12,000 careers out in the working world! You are not single faceted, and can do more than what you do now, often without a pay cut.
What can companies do… stop overworking your employees and hire enough people to do the work. Yes, sometimes they will have a bit of free time; you know what that is called – Happy Employees!! Many employees are just plain burned out, and YOU may have created the situation. We have become overly profit focused to the point of stupid. Don’t get me wrong, I am a capitalist and believe in good profit. But when that is your main focus, not your employees and not your clients, you lose, and so does everyone else!
For instance, overzealous corporations that run hospitals and clinics have overworked our nurses, and they are quitting in droves, and over the next five years, 40% more plan to leave(2)! That is unsustainable, especially after the losses post-COVID.
From after hours work/overtime, to no professional development opportunities (a webinar does not count, especially the annual required one) or the time to participate, to bad supervisors who chase your employees away, to cheap insurance benefits, to ignoring employee wellness in your organization, there is good chance one or more of these is creating stress that is now intolerable and your employees will start “mailing it in” daily. You are literally costing yourself a ton of money! Estimates are staggering globally, estimated at $8.8 TRILLION annually(3).
Let’s be adults on both sides of this equation. Employees need to do the work they are being paid for or leave! Companies need to start putting employees and clients first. If both sides can start working towards improving their end of the situation, companies will see good profit and engaged employees, and employees’ engagement and retention will soar! Don’t stay stuck, move the needle!
(1) HR C-Suite LLC 2025 Workforce Trends, The Ghost Employee Problem: Why Unseen Workers Are Draining Your Bottom Line, Tresha Moreland.
(2) National Nursing Workforce Study, cited in Association of Clinical Documentation Specialist – News: 40% of nurses intend to leave the workforce within the next 5 years, survey indicates (May 2025).
(3) Gallup estimates that the cost of disengagement drains the global economy of $8.8 trillion annually. Meanwhile, ADP reports that a single disengaged employee can cost a company $2,246 per year. Source: VantageCircle.com Blog – The Real Cost of Disengaged Employees, and How to Fix It.