Ghostworking is a trend where workers create an illusion of productivity by engaging in behaviors like faking phone calls or typing randomly at their desks. A survey by Resume Now found that 58% of U.S. employees regularly admit to ghostworking, with many doing so while actually job hunting. Common tactics include scheduling fake meetings and acting busy to maintain appearances. This phenomenon highlights a disconnect in worker engagement and productivity levels, paralleling trends such as quiet quitting, indicating ongoing shifts in workplace dynamics and employee satisfaction.
Pretending to be busy at the office is not something workers recently invented, of course, but it appears to be reaching critical mass.
According to a new survey, more than half of all U.S. employees now admit to regularly ghostworking.
The survey shows that 92% of employees have job-searched in some way while on the clock, with 55% admitting they do so regularly.
Ghostworking may overlap in some ways with the quiet quitting trend that emerged in 2023.
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