What It Is & How To Deal With It

An employee who ditches their job without notice throws their team a curveball.

Most businesses know how to handle vacation time and the occasional absenteeism. Teams can plan ahead for coworkers who give notice of a doctor’s appointment, family obligation, or mental health day. But the unexpectedness and lack of clarity of job abandonment put extra pressure on a team and hinder morale. 

Sometimes, an unexplained absence has a valid but unshared explanation — like a medical emergency that leaves an employee incommunicado. Or perhaps an employee feels their work environment is unsafe. No matter the situation, managing job abandonment carefully helps your team bounce back and safeguards the organization from potential legal repercussions. 

• Is job abandonment quitting? When an employee unexpectedly leaves their job without following the typical procedure — giving two weeks’ notice or following another company policy — the employer might consider it a voluntary resignation. 

• Is job abandonment illegal? While leaving your job isn’t a crime, you might experience legal consequences for abandoning an employment contract. For example, in some states, a teacher who abandons their job mid-year might lose their teaching license.  

• How many days is considered job abandonment? No federal employment law defines a number of days equaling abandonment. Instead, your employer will likely set internal guidelines.

While management expects to have a formal conversation about quitting a job or taking a sabbatical, an employee might abandon their position to escape a toxic work environment or handle severe stress.

Here are seven reasons someone might abandon their job: 

1. Confrontation: Some employees feel so uncomfortable having difficult conversations that they avoid discussions altogether. Chatting about poor performance, behavior issues, or salary expectations might make them want to quit.

2. A new job offer: An employee might receive a tempting offer that better fits their interests, desired work-life balance, and short and long-term goals. And not needing a reference may empower them to jump ship without notice.

3. Burnout: Someone who’s mentally fatigued and physically burned out might feel too overwhelmed to execute a formal resignation process. According to a 2022 Gallup survey, 3 out of 4 employees experience burnout — and the signs typically go unnoticed by employers.

   If an employee abandons work due to burnout, human resources (HR) may want to proactively speak with other employees to improve retention rates. 

   

4. Fear of termination: If an employee thinks their manager might fire them, they might leave first.

5. An unclear company policy: Employees might not know the consequences of unexcused absences or how to ask for time off. Companies should share clear policies surrounding how much time staff can take off and how to properly ask for it.

6. Workplace conflict: Harassment, bullying, and toxic work environments can cause employees to leave unexpectedly.

7. Poor mental health: Employees struggling with mental health issues take nearly 12 days of unplanned absences each year, almost five times more than average.

   Depression is a common workplace phenomenon and can cause workers to lose motivation and disengage from their career goals, pushing them to abandon work altogether.

It’s important to note the cause of someone’s job abandonment. If harassment motivates an employee’s sudden leave, an employer must take responsibility and work with their HR department to improve the company’s workplace environment. 

1. Dips in productivity: An unexpected absence delays timelines and forces teammates to pick up the slack. A larger workload might burn out or frustrate the team, lowering productivity and morale. And onboarding a new team member can take several months and steals time from managers that could work on other tasks. 

2. Higher recruitment costs: Employee turnover is costly. Recruitment, interviewing, and onboarding add up. For businesses big and small, losing an employee represents a significant financial blow. When job abandonment and employee turnover become frequent issues, it creates expensive and unexpected expenditures that pull the budget away from other necessities.

3. Damaged reputation: Continuous job abandonment could harm a company’s reputation. Potential hires, workers, and customers may assume this reflects a toxic work culture or bad company health.

4. Decreased morale: Employees leaving suddenly can feel negative to teammates left in the lurch and wondering what caused the abandonment. And a manager might feel down and disappointed if they didn’t notice tell-tale signs earlier on, like stress or disengagement.

5. Strained relationships: If the exiting employee had a client-facing role, this sudden disappearance might harm these relationships.

6. Legal issues: Handling job abandonment requires legal considerations that depend on one’s state and the absence’s circumstances. Without a clear job abandonment policy or established protocols, the organization puts itself at risk of expensive legal payouts.

Before proceeding with the termination, the organization should respect local, state, and federal labor laws. For example, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides a minimum of 12 workweeks of leave over 12 months of job protection to attend to personal or family medical issues.

Also review the following information in the employee handbook: 

• Is there a stipulated number of consecutive absences the employer considers job abandonment? 

• Is there a clear expectation or specific form of communication to inform absences? 

• Is information about absences visible in the workplace?

4. Be kind and confidential

In the best-case scenario, an employee has an explanation for a couple unexpected absences, and the employee will return to work in due time. Handling the situation with privacy and empathy shows you care about your colleague’s well-being.