Dear “Got it, thanks” email. Dear “Looking into this and will get back to you.” Dear simple, beautiful “Received, need a few days on this one.”

You are underappreciated. Underused. Perhaps even endangered. But you are also one of the most powerful tools we have for maintaining sanity and trust in the workplace. So this is for you—and a plea to bring you back from the brink of extinction.

We’ve all been there. You send a reasonable work email—a question, a request, a proposal—and then… nothing. Days pass. Maybe weeks. You follow up, and still: silence. Not a “got it, looking into this,” not even a “swamped right now, will get back to you.” Just the void.

This workplace ghosting has become so normalised that we barely question it anymore. But we should.

It Takes Almost No Time

A quick “Thanks, will look into this” takes seconds to type. Even “Received—need to gather some information, will update you by Friday” is barely a minute of your day. Yet somehow we’ve normalized treating acknowledgement as optional, whilst silence has become the default.

A brief acknowledgement prevents follow-ups, stops the sender from wondering if their message vanished into the ether, and maintains basic professional relationships. Complete silence generates anxiety and often requires more correspondence down the line. We’re choosing the harder path whilst convincing ourselves it’s efficient.

Why We Do It Anyway

Inbox overwhelm is real. Many of us are drowning in messages. But this actually strengthens the case for quick acknowledgements—they buy you time and goodwill whilst you figure out the real answer.

We’re conflict-averse. Sometimes an email requires us to say no or deliver disappointing news. So we procrastinate by ignoring it. But that difficult conversation isn’t going away. It’s just festering.

We’ve misunderstood responsiveness. We treat every email like it requires a complete, perfect answer, so if we can’t provide that immediately, we provide nothing. Acknowledgement and resolution are two different things.

The culture permits it. We ghost because we can. Because everyone else does it too. Because there are rarely consequences for leaving colleagues hanging.

The Cost

Workplace ghosting slows down projects, erodes trust, creates information silos, and breeds resentment. Organisations where ghosting is normalised become places where people cc everyone defensively, send unnecessary follow-ups, and waste energy managing around unresponsive colleagues.

A Modest Proposal

What if we adopted a simple norm: acknowledge within 24 hours, even if you don’t have the answer?

Not every email deserves a response—spam and FYIs are fair to leave alone. But if someone has asked you a direct question, a quick “on it” or “need a few days to look into this” should be the floor, not the ceiling.

This isn’t about being constantly available or responding at midnight. It’s about basic professional courtesy. About treating colleagues’ time as valuable as your own.

Because here’s what’s quietly communicated when we ghost people: “Your question is not important enough for me to spend fifteen seconds acknowledging it.”

We’ve all got too much to do, but that fact doesn’t justify treating basic responsiveness as optional. In a world of infinite demands, the small acts of consideration are what keep the whole system from breaking down.

Silence isn’t neutral. It’s a choice. And it’s one we should all stop making.