The ‘Ghostworking' Boom: 92% Of Workers Job Hunt On Company Time

Forbes

4 hours ago

It's the new workplace secret no one wants to admit. While bosses push for productivity and presence, a staggering 92% of workers are quietly job hunting on company time, according to a new survey from Resume Now. This hidden trend, dubbed 'ghostworking,' is reshaping office culture and revealing just how far employees will go to keep their options open in today's uncertain job market. LinkedIn's 2025 Work Change report backs this up. Nearly three in five professionals worldwide plan to job hunt this year, and many are doing it during work hours.
With trust being tested on both sides, ghostworking is more than a fad. It's a wake-up call for employers and a survival tactic for millions of employees. So, what's fueling this surge in on-the-clock job searches? Here's what the latest research reveals.
According to Asana's 2024 State of Work Innovation Report, 65% of workers admit they perform tasks just to appear busy. Workers who engage in this behavior, called productivity theater, are 13% more likely to experience burnout.
Here's what's driving this trend:
The primary driver appears to be a crisis of meaningful work. When employees lack clear expectations, purposeful tasks, or genuine engagement with their roles, they naturally seek alternatives. 'Our research consistently shows that when employees can't see how their work aligns with company goals, their efforts lose meaning,' shares Dr. Rebecca Hinds, Head of the Work Innovation Lab at Asana. The pressure to appear busy creates a toxic cycle where workers feel compelled to perform productivity theater instead of focusing on results.
With layoffs making headlines across industries and job security feeling increasingly fragile, employees are hedging their bets. The mentality has shifted from loyalty-based career building to self-preservation. Workers are no longer waiting for pink slips to start exploring options. They're proactively positioning themselves for whatever comes next.
Remote and hybrid work arrangements have blurred traditional boundaries between personal and professional time. This ambiguity creates opportunities for ghostworking that didn't exist in conventional office settings.
Many employees report feeling undervalued, underpaid, or stuck in roles that don't align with their career aspirations. Ghostworking becomes an escape valve for frustration and a concrete step toward change. It's a way to regain some control in situations where workers feel powerless.
The Resume Now survey uncovered a range of strategies that go beyond casual browsing during lunch breaks.
The most brazen forms of ghostworking involve active job hunting during work hours:
Beyond active job hunting, employees have developed elaborate strategies to appear busy:
The energy and creativity invested in ghostworking could be redirected toward productive work if underlying workplace issues were addressed.
While the ghostworking epidemic presents serious challenges for employers, it also offers valuable insights into workplace dysfunction.
The most immediate implication is the massive waste of human resources. When most employees are job hunting on company time, organizations are paying for their workforce to plan their departures. This represents a misallocation of payroll dollars and a clear indication that employee engagement strategies are failing.
Ghostworking creates an adversarial dynamic where managers feel compelled to monitor, and employees feel justified in deceiving. This cycle of suspicion undermines the collaborative relationships necessary for high-performance teams. When workers spend mental energy on appearing busy rather than being productive, everyone loses.
Organizations that invest in employee development, training, and career advancement are effectively subsidizing their competitors' recruitment efforts. The return on investment for human capital development plummets when employees are actively seeking alternatives.
The key to addressing ghostworking starts with understanding why employees disengage in the first place.
Forward-thinking employers can use ghostworking data to identify deeper organizational problems:
While monitoring might reduce ghostworking behaviors, it doesn't address the underlying causes driving employee disengagement.
The ghostworking trend shows no signs of slowing down, and several factors suggest it may actually intensify:
The ghostworking trend reflects broader shifts in how we perceive work relationships. The traditional model of employer-employee loyalty is breaking down, replaced by a more transactional dynamic in which workers prioritize their own growth and well-being. In this new reality, employees feel empowered to job hunt whenever opportunities arise. Rather than fighting this shift, smart organizations will adapt by creating environments where employees genuinely want to contribute, not because they have to but because they choose to engage rather than go through the motions.