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Numbers on a report are supposed to reflect reality, not manufacture a more convenient version of it.

One employee’s workplace was thrown into disarray after noticing new Jira tickets still being assigned to a coworker who’d quit weeks earlier — laptop returned, access revoked, completely gone from the company.

When he asked his manager about it, the explanation landed with a thud: Leadership wanted the departed employee’s account kept active until the end of the quarter specifically to avoid making the department look understaffed on an internal report.

In the meantime, every one of those tickets simply got reassigned to the remaining team members, stacking extra work onto people who were already stretched thin.

Keep reading for the full story.

My company is still assigning work to a guy who quit so our staffing numbers look better

A guy on my team quit a few weeks ago. Laptop returned, access gone, completely done with the company.

But one employee still on the payroll soon noticed something strange.

Yesterday, while I was watching Kick, I noticed new Jira tickets were still being assigned to him.

The truth quickly came out.

I asked my manager, and apparently leadership wants his account left active until the end of the quarter, because removing him would make our department look understaffed on an internal report.

His tickets get reassigned to the rest of us afterward.

The employee could hardly believe his ears.

So we’re doing the work of an understaffed team while management keeps a former employee on the books to make the numbers look better.

How is this even legal?

Redditors chime in with their thoughts.

This user doesn’t really understand management’s thinking.

Surely this kind of behavior wouldn’t fly with the IRS.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a craft store customer who refuses to take no for an answer when it comes to wrapping his purchases for gifts.

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Fraud is nothing to play around about.

Keeping a ghost employee on the books doesn’t actually fix a staffing shortage, and management likely knows that.

They just don’t care about how they treat their employees and don’t think twice about piling up more work on their staff.

Leadership shouldn’t choose appearance over accuracy.

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Author

Benjamin Cottrell

Benjamin Cottrell | Assistant Editor, Internet Culture

Benjamin Cottrell is an Assistant Editor and contributing writer at TwistedSifter, specializing in internet culture, viral social dynamics, and the moral complexities of online communities. He brings a highly analytical, editorial voice to his reporting on workplace conflicts, malicious compliance, and interpersonal drama, with a specific focus on nuanced stories that lack an obvious villain.

As a published author of rhetorical criticism, Benjamin leverages his academic background in human communication to dissect and elevate viral social media threads. Instead of simply summarizing events, he provides readers with balanced, deep-dive commentary into why the internet reacts the way it does. In addition to his cultural reporting, he is an experienced fine art photography essayist and video game reviewer.

When he isn’t analyzing the latest viral debates, Benjamin is usually chipping away at his extensive video game backlog, hunting down the best new restaurants, or out exploring the city with a camera in hand.

Connect with Benjamin on Instagram and read more of his essays on Substack.