The negative consequences of workplace gossip Rumors can test trust between colleagues. It is also likely that the quality of work will be affected and that employee morale will drop significantly. Dedicating time to sarcastic conversations can reduce productivity at work. An environment in which gossip thrives tends to be hostile.
If gossip is common in the workplace, it can have a negative impact on company culture. The mood and tone of the gossip can cause a change in attitude that can make the company feel less harmonious. Employees who are the subject of gossip or who haven't been included in the conversation may also feel isolated or marginalized, leading to increased staff turnover. Employees who are the subject of gossip may also be distracted by emotions or fear attacks from co-workers.
Discerning the truth behind gossip should not be a cause for concern, but rather it should stop rumors and protect employees from negative and defamatory conversations. Lesonsky said employers cannot use no-gossip policies to prohibit normal complaints about supervisors, which the Laurus Technical Institute seemed to be trying to do. Conflicts, such as arguments and even physical altercations, can arise between the subjects of the gossip and the people who spread the rumors. It may be useful to develop policies that specifically prohibit employees from gossiping about each other and that encourage positive communication.
When gossip gets out of hand or your assistant reports that employees are actually afraid of gossip about themselves at work, it's obvious that all that idle talk has taken an unpleasant turn. This is because gossip is often based on a story, or a partial truth, and creates unrealistic and harmful speculation. Ensuring that managers and supervisors act as role models and don't fuel gossip is also an important step in preventing gossip. For example, Peter Vajda, an Atlanta-based speaker and author of a paper on business coaching, defines workplace gossip as a form of violence in the workplace, and points out that it is “essentially a form of attack.” The school had a restrictive no-gossip policy that prohibited talking about a person's personal or professional life when the person or their manager was not present.
If you think ahead of time about the best ways to encourage productive communication and discourage gossip and rumors, you can work to establish a positive business culture. Sometimes, gossip “is a harbinger of something that is true and makes you realize something, as a manager, that you should work on,” he added. Workplace gossip is present in almost every type of organization that exists and can be very difficult to avoid or eliminate.
