Spilling the Tea: How office gossip can affect women, even when working from home
By: Shereese Maynard
Tags: Remote Working, Women In Tech, Work From Home, Human Resources, Remote Team

A client contacted me recently, expressing a need to have a comprehensive gossip policy and training module developed. I, of course, created a beautiful program, but admittedly, the need for it seemed counterintuitive to the way her staff was working. How is it, I thought, that health tech teams have time to spread gossip and with whom are they sharing it? Aren’t we all working from home? But, I digress. Doing my own research and crafting a totally non-scientific poll, I concluded that gossip has survived the pandemic and is thriving in a remote working world. Here’s why it’s not always a bad thing and how we can handle it safely and legally.

What is office gossip?

Office gossip, in my opinion, is rarely about the office itself; it’s more the sharing of private and personal communications among colleagues. It’s also unavoidable. Let’s face it, nobody goes to the watercooler for water. But when working remotely, office gossip can travel faster when the person spreading the gossip has a sense of anonymity or a safe distance from the center, as I often say. A remote working environment makes spreading gossip easier and the impact greater. But wait, isn’t most gossip dismissed as just that? The answer is sometimes. Most gossip is just innocuous internal communications shared between a few team members. But sometimes gossip can go from the garden-variety “she’s so getting that promotion,” which is harmless, to something quite harmful like, “you know how she got that promotion.” Both are typical conversation starters but one crosses a line. One can inspire, the other can cause the productivity of your team to suffer.

When is gossip good?

All gossip is not lousy gossip. In fact, when properly placed, some gossip can be a good thing. For instance, if an employee shares that a team’s project did well at launch and they’re expected to be rewarded; the receiver of the information could feel inspired that a company is recognizing the efforts of teams. She may then work harder or be more inspirational to her own team. From a career standpoint, receiving gossip that someone is thinking of leaving a company could give you time to prepare yourself or position yourself for a promotion to the role that’s opening up. We often see “leaks” in the work environment. This is gossip meant to create interest or demand. I’ve used this method and found it to be quite effective.

The Remotely Bad

Gossip that aims to hurt or to spread disinformation is bad gossip. Due to the utilization of remote working platforms, emails and public posts are becoming more commonly used. Labor attorney, Warren Agin wrote, “Employees often treat e-mail communications like oral conversations, saying things they would never state in a letter or memorandum.” This mode of communication can spread gossip rapidly, subjecting the targeted employee to unwarranted and unexpected notoriety. Once the misinformation is shared, regardless of intent, it causes great harm. The damage can be far-reaching, causing other team members to question not only the person but also the environment in which they work.

Keeping it profession

Many organizations find it very challenging to control gossip and this can be very true. Legally, employees are allowed to talk about their labor situations and are protected under the first amendment. That said, organizations can discourage the behavior by adopting policies that spell out the harm gossip brings. You can also discourage it by placing it firmly under your harassment policies. Targeted gossip is a form of harassment and no organization should tolerate it. Also, adopting social media and email policies spells out specific behaviors that harm the environment and how an organization will handle the use of organizational resources to spread disinformation. These policies should be reviewed with team members at least annually to ensure buy-in. Finally, post a no-gossip zone infographic on your work platform. I have one posted on my Flock workspace for all team members to see whenever they check for weekly announcements.

So spill it. What are your feelings about gossip? Hit me up on Twitter @ShereeseMayMBA.