A story that would delight CEOs pushing for a mandatory return to office—and terrify HR pros trying to appease both leaders and a hybrid-hungry workforce—has recently been making waves in HR circles: A woman recently posted a now-viral blog on Substack describing how she spent the better part of a year essentially “ghostworking”—and how she says it paid off.
“I developed a nagging suspicion that my role was irrelevant and futile, so I decided to conduct an experiment: I resolved to stop doing any work,” wrote blogger Leyla Kazim, a now-former corporate worker from London. She describes how she would work at top speed in the few minutes before her weekly one-on-ones and deliver convincing updates to her supervisor—when in reality, she was spending her working hours planning personal travel. She eventually left the job on her own accord.
See also: Is ghostworking scaring employers? Why it should be, according to this HR leader
The account may leave out a fair amount of nuance, but the message is clear: The writer is advocating for workers to do the bare minimum, the core of ghostworking, and spend their time on personal fulfillment instead.
“Don’t try to find more things to do. Don’t try to make your existing tasks fill the entire week. Go in the opposite direction,” Kazim advises. “Do only what’s required. Do it well, do it fast and spend the rest of your time on your own stuff.”
It may be a message that lands well with many workers, especially today.
The constant onslaught of layoff news likely has many American workers feeling disillusioned with the entire concept of modern work. Layoff anxiety is at an all-time high—more than 60% of employed Americans report fearing layoffs, a 30% jump since 2019—while employee stress and burnout are also peaking.
That could make ghost working experiments more appealing, as workers continue to ride the post-pandemic priority of connecting with personal purpose, while edging toward disengagement from the constant threat of layoffs. When AI and automation are thrown into the mix, and workers see pieces of their jobs being taken over by tech, the pull toward doing less may be even stronger.
Kazim taps into that sentiment, urging employees to first and foremost see work as a “game,” whose main rule is to spend as little time meeting your deliverables while doing so competently. It’s an argument that highlights the likely fear among CEOs driving a return to pre-pandemic line-of-sight on productivity—that without in-office supervision, employees could just skate by.
That’s where culture can make the difference, experts say. Even in a landscape of ongoing layoffs, trends like ghostworking or quiet quitting—which are “less a rejection of work and more a withdrawal from a culture that feels indifferent,” Dr. Robert Coleman recently wrote for HR Executive—can be countered with a culture that centers empathy.
Empathetic leaders, Coleman says, have been shown to improve intent to stay, job satisfaction and performance.
“The message is clear,” he writes. “Empathy is not only a key soft skill, but a valuable retention strategy and a frequently overlooked influence on disengagement.”
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