Is there a reason to shoot (or to avoid shooting) the floating Bureau employees?

I've just started playing Control - in the game, besides the active opponents you can see plenty of civilian employees infected/possessed by Hiss that just float in the air, but beside looking spooky, they don't seem to be doing anything. You can find a note saying that their purpose is unknown, but they might be working as a sort of amplifier to Hiss.

So should I shoot them on sight or they can be left in peace and maybe even saved?

Solution 1:

There is no effect for shooting them or leaving them. The game does not track if you shoot them, iirc they do not drop any loot or ammo, and they have no effect on what enemies spawn in your area. The only thing I noticed when I've cleared the floating employees from an area is that the Hiss noise temporarily goes away, but it comes back quickly and nothing else is changed.

You can safely ignore them, they are decoration for the game and cannot be interacted with beyond shooting them.

Solution 2:

Hiss Agents, the guys you're talking about, can be used to activate the "Consecutive Kills Boost" Weapon Mod, that boosts damage by X% for 5 seconds after a kill.

But they don't count as enemies for Countermeasures, at least they didn't when I killed some with Charge in an attempt to game the "Kill With Charge in Executive" measure.