Ghosting. Dealing with professional adultery

People start early in Chennai, so while we weren’t surprised to get a call at 9:05 am on a Monday morning about 10 years ago from our client’s HR Manager, his words were unsettling... “Muthu has not reached”.

Muthu, alias Muthuswamy, was the new Logistics manager our client had hired through us and Monday was his joining date. In an early rising city, it was far more usual for a new joiner to be 30 minutes early, than five minutes late. Hence, Panic. And then a flurry of activity starting with calls to his mobile…”switched off”, emails…too early to expect a response... a review of the CV revealed a home number. A cultured voice answered…

“This is Anantharaman, who do you want to speak to” ( yes, in those parts it was more usual to get a helpful preamble, than a curt ‘Hello!’ )

“Er… sir, I called to speak with Muthuswamy”

“Yes, I am his father”

“Oh, good morning sir, can I speak with Muthu?”

“Not now. He has gone to office. Do you want to leave a message?”

“Er…no, I need to speak with him and his mobile phone is off. He was to join a new company today and they called to say he has not reached.”

“Who are you?”

“I am Aditya from the placement company – we placed him with this company.”

“Ah. AAdityaa, he has gone to the new office and will reach at 9:42 am. He was using the previous company’s mobile which he has surrendered.”

9:42?

Yes.

Er…the office opens at 9:00…?

“Yes, yes, but Raahu Kaalam ends at 9:40, so he will enter the building after that. It is his first day at a new job so he must not enter at an inauspicious time. He must be waiting in the parking lot even now.” Next we call Sekhar, the HR manager and apprise him of the situation. Sekhar laughed, we laughed, Muthu joined and went on to do very well. Soon I developed a healthy respect for Raahu Kaalam too.That was back then, when commitments were covenants and any backtracking had the whole system giving you a collective frown of disapproval.

Today, if you don’t believe in ghosts, try recruiting as a career. In recruiting terminology, a ‘ghost’ is a prospective candidate who commits and then disappears. It used to be rare till a few years ago, but today this could happen at any stage — any interview, offer or even on the day of joining. It’s like the whole hiring industry is stuck in the Bermuda Triangle — that’s how often people disappear! In fact, ask a recruiter for a pet peeve and chances are 9 on 10 they’ll come up with “the ghost who walks”.

Ditching ethics

Looking back, the change happened 3-4 years ago when industry slowed down and margins came under pressure. Companies clamped down on hiring and if an employee left, it became tough to get sanction for a replacement. To discourage departure, most companies increased the notice period to three months — the intention being that hiring companies would be unwilling to wait that long, while the current company induced them to stay on. There were instances where companies with a one-month notice changed the clause to three months and made the annual appraisal conditional on signing the amendment!

This, however, had an unintended effect. Many job-seekers ditched ethics regarding commitments and soon the norms had changed. Where once there was a deliberateness to the process and a sanctity to the commitment, many candidates now saw the first offer as a starting point, with any offer being an opportunity for an even better one.

Hiring companies responded by going a level lower, driven by the urgency of their demand — specifically seeking out candidates who had accepted an offer and resigned and were serving their notice period.

The closer the candidates were to release date, the more attractive they became. Things got so bad, there were start-up job sites exclusively for candidates serving notice period! The result is that this norm of confirming and then disappearing has gone all the way down the hiring chain. Today, in a large hiring process, you can expect up to 40-50 per cent interview dropouts, up to 30 per cent offer non-responses and at least 20 per cent who drop or disappear just before joining date.

Many candidates justify this by saying that, after all, companies lay off too and it’s only fair candidates keep trying for the best deal in the market. However, this isn’t a revenge game where dropouts are a counter to layoffs. And choice is fine — until there is a commitment and sign-on. Then it’s an offer, an acceptance and therefore a contract. When the candidate reneges after that, s/he breaks the contract and the company pays the cost. Now, if we flip the coin the other way, the company could keep looking too and just think how terrible it would be if they call the candidate the day after he’s been relieved, saying, “Sorry, no offer — we found someone better.” When campus offers were withdrawn some time back, the companies were justifiably hauled over the coals! There are forms of work where skills are bought and sold, which could be considered as a marketplace with its own rules for breach. However, employment is a long-term relationship where trust is a key factor. For important roles, companies go through a long process evaluating and making choices before a selection.

Getting stood up at the last minute has costs and consequences which finally end up affecting the whole system. Already, some companies get a binding legal agreement signed along with an offer acceptance, stipulating that a reneging candidate will pay 1-2 months’ salary as penalty. Some want every offer acceptance to be made public on the candidate’s profile across job-boards and professional social media.

We could instead try shortening the changeover cycle, reducing the ‘Notice period’ and providing only for what is required — a reasonable attempt to dissuade, failing which a smooth handover. Ideally one-month mandatory notice plus two months with discretionary buyout. Take away the temptation and the opportunity. Sure, there is the legal rule to make offers binding, but would pre-pre-nups really stop professional adultery?

Dony Kuriakose is Director & CEO, Edge Executive Search, a talent search partner to multinationals

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