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With a tight labor market, some employers have experienced an uptick in “ghosting,” in which an employee stops coming to work without notice and is impossible to contact. Job openings have surpassed the number of seekers for eight straight months, and the unemployment rate has clung to a 49-year low of 3.7 percent since September. Applicants will skip interviews, new hires will fail to show for their first day and workers will leave their job and never come back. Recruiters at global staffing firm Robert Half have noticed a “10- to 20-percent increase” in ghosting over the past year, says D.C. district president Josh Howarth. In many cases, service workers will skip out on low-paying jobs. To solve the problem, some Nebraska employers are trying to avoid unfilled shifts with apprentice programs that guarantee raises and additional training over time. To curb ghosting, HR should build meaningful relationships with job candidates at every stage of the hiring process. Someone who feels invested in an enterprise is less likely to bounce, say Melissa and Johnathan Nightingale, co-authors of the book How F*cked Up Is Your Management?: An Uncomfortable Conversation about Modern Leadership.

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