Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Employee Ghosting: Advising Employers on Investigation, Dismissal for Non-Attendance, and Post-Termination Notice, Pay, Property, References and Restrictive Covenants

Published by a LexisNexis Employment expert

Practice notes

Workplace ‘ghosting’

This Practice Note examines workplace ‘ghosting’, where an employee or candidate accepts a role but fails to start, or stops attending and disappears without giving notice of resignation or termination. For guidance on situations where an employer ghosts a prospective employee or candidate, see Q&A: What issues arise when an employer ghosts a prospective employee? The expression ‘ghosting’ originates in online dating, where, at some point in a relationship, one person cuts off contact without explanation—so the other is ‘dumped’ without ever being told. In employment, a candidate or employee may ‘ghost’ at any stage—from skipping an interview, or not arriving on their first day, through to walking out at any time during the relationship and never returning. Indeed’s 2023 study, When Candidates and Recruiters Vanish: Indeed’s Ghosting in Hiring Report, found 46% of US job seekers surveyed believed ghosting had become more frequent in the previous 12 months, up from 39% in 2022. In the UK, 75% of job seekers surveyed had ghosted one to four employers over the past year...

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Elise Turner

Morton Fraser MacRoberts LLP

A Law Society of Scotland Accredited Specialist in Employment Law and a Senior Associate in Morton Fraser's highly rated employment law team, Elise Turner advises both employer and employee clients in relation to the legal and practical aspects of both day-to-day and complex HR issues. Her advice includes everything from discipline, grievance, performance and absence matters to redundancy, working time, TUPE, outsourcing and discrimination. She regularly advises on senior executive contracts and exits on both sides, often drafting and negotiating agreements in highly confidential or delicate circumstances....

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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