Start networking and exchanging professional insights

Register now or log in to join your professional community.

Follow

How can you minimize internal gossip in the work place?

user-image
Question added by Deleted user
Date Posted: 2016/12/08
Salma Eid
by Salma Eid , Dietitian/Nutritionist , Muscle Power Sports, Nutrition Centre

Obviously, my immediate advice to you is to not hit anybody. As cathartic as that might seem from your current vantage point, it won’t solve your problem and, ultimately, it would do more to harm your reputation than any hallway gossip could. It also would get you fired and most likely arrested.My next piece of advice—which under less dramatic circumstances I would hesitate to give—is to not even bother talking to your boss about this right now and to go straight to your company’s HR department with your complaint. (Since you say you work at a large company, I’ll assume formal channels for logging complaints are available to you.) I usually suggest that an employee bring any problem directly to his boss—or to affected peers, if appropriate—but from your letter it seems that this situation has gone on long enough that it needs a third party to diffuse it quickly. And, even though I’ll take your comment about hitting someone as being tongue-in-cheek, you sound riled up enough to perhaps act a little rashly. Again, a calming perspective seems to be in order.The situation you describe raises some interesting points about what’s actually considered workplace harassment. I’ll get to those in a bit, but to all the managers out there who are reading this column, I just want to make this quick point:This is how stupid, hurtful, and wasteful office gossip can get if it goes unchecked.A few months ago I took a little heat from some readers (that’s fine, I’m used to it) when I suggested that managers should not only shun office gossip, but act to quash it when it begins circulating. Orwellian or not, I stand by my contention that even seemingly innocent gossip about coworkers is at best a foolish waste of time and, as in the situation described here, a potential source of liability for both managers and the company.Of course, I can’t arbitrate the conflict described in this member’s letter without more facts—again, the only specific advice I offer is that the writer see HR immediately. After all, there’s always the possibility the letter-writer overheard a conversation about somebody else, or is otherwise grossly mistaken about what’s really going on. (Such cultures of suspicion and overreaction are natural byproducts of—you guessed it—rampant office gossip.)But let’s assume for the purposes of illustration that the letter-writer has more or less hit the nail on the head: Coworkers are in fact gossiping about his sexual lifestyle, and have gone so far as to insinuate criminal conduct on his part (unless he lives in certain areas of Nevada or a country outside the U.S. where licensed prostitution is legal). And it’s not just among his peers; the rumors have made it all the way to senior management.

 

syed mohiuddin
by syed mohiuddin , Digital Marketing Specialist , Global Info Ltd

Organise a get-together for your staff at least every once a week. Don't talk here about work, projects and deadlines. Some snacks and drinks with possibly some recognition of the best achiever (informally). This creates a culture and staff will get to see colleagues not only in their team but also from other departments. This is a good way to strengthen communication and build positive relationship among staff.

Petar Stojanovic
by Petar Stojanovic , Assistant Professor , TU Delft

Development quasi-familiar feelings in the collectief.

 

Karthi N
by Karthi N , Senior Executive HR & Compliance , Unisourcce Treend India

Simply diverting the employee mind set on other activities. And conduct small games on the workfloor

Trough a proverb"Mind your own Bussness"

Arun  Barthwal
by Arun Barthwal , SHAREKKHAN LTD

by creating new technique for doing work and providing each one a different level of work.

Naeem Abbas
by Naeem Abbas , Human Resources Manager , MultiFit UAE

Transparency and the positive work envoironment can be tried reduce the gossips at work place.

SUBHASH WARRIER
by SUBHASH WARRIER , Senior Manager , Manappuram Finance Ltd

One basic thing,  involve the staffs in to activities that would be the long term goal of an organization. Bring a sense of belonging and participation in to their midst, & bring in a feeling in each of them that they are indeed contributing to organizational progress in long run..they wont get time for gossipping or atleast talks would be positive and an healthy one.

Govinda Prasad Ghimire
by Govinda Prasad Ghimire , Occupational Health And Safety Supervisor , Wastewater Agency, Public Services Department, Government of Ras Al Khaimah

Provide clear and direct communation on any issue which may spread as internal gossip.

محمد السيد محمد ابراهيم
by محمد السيد محمد ابراهيم , Supervisor security , Movenpick Pyramid

By keeping silent because silence is the language of the great

sitaram yannamani
by sitaram yannamani , SAFETY SUPERVIOSER , larsen and tourbo

For every gossip there is a route cause i will work on route cause then automatically all will set right

More Questions Like This

Do you need help in adding the right keywords to your CV? Let our CV writing experts help you.