by Amon Karagara

Created on: June 25, 2010   Last Updated: February 25, 2011

If not prevented, gossip in the workplace can have negative consequences on overall performance. Gossip usually diverts employees’ attention from what is important, while also creating tension between co-workers or even between employees and management, which will ultimately lead to reduced productivity. Management should therefore strive to prevent gossip from taking place in the workplace. Here are some suggestions:

Know where the gossip is coming from and talk to the person about it. May be they have a reason for gossiping, or it is just miscommunication. Don't believe what someone else has said until you speak with the source of the gossip. Then you can correct them or offer some advise about whatever is being rumored.

Communicate and pass on all the necessary information. When everyone is kept in the loop on what is going on, they will not be tempted to listen to much gossip. They will brush off whatever is being said because they know you always give them the correct information whenever it is available. So, don’t hold back any information that you believe they should know about. If they heard it from somewhere and it turned out to be true, they would start listening to even more rumors. But if they heard it from the horse’s mouth first, it takes away the possibility of listening to more gossip in the future.

Make yourself available to listen to everyone, so employees can talk to you instead of depending on rumors from other sources. By allowing them to freely talk to you and share everything they have to, they will always come to you whenever a rumor is being spread, other than keeping it to themselves and believing what they hear.

Have a written policy against gossip and punish those who spread the rumors. Make it one of the company’s rules and put it in writing that gossip is not welcome at all and that there might be consequences associated with anyone involved in this habit. If you happen to hear someone spreading the gossip, ask to meet with them, talk to them about it and warn them that this kind of talk is going to affect their tenure at your workplace.

Create and promote a friendly atmosphere. One of the leading causes of gossip in the workplace is the lack of good relations between co-workers. There will be those who want to start rumors and gossip over anything they believe will tarnish someone’s image. But if everyone is on good terms with each other, there are fewer chances of gossiping around. So a manager or team leader should always think of ways to his team members as friendly to each other as they can be. When conflicts arise, try to resolve them before they get out of hand, so everyone continues to work in harmony, hence less gossip

Set goals and challenges for employees to meet, so they are left with less time to be involved in gossip. There are two ways to work around this: Create a team, assign it tasks and let them know that everyone is equally responsible for the team’s overall performance. Or, let individual be aware that their performance will be evaluated, so they need to work hard. Instead of idling around spreading rumors, each one will be busy trying to meet their expectations.

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