Nibletz Staff
Employee gossip is often seen as nothing but a negative. In some regards, that is absolutely accurate. If employees are spending their time talking to one another rather than completing the work required of them, then your business is going to find itself suffering from lost productivity issues. If this gossip is pernicious and even nasty, then it can disrupt the entire working environment. So it’s fair to say that workplace gossip is often fairly maligned, and should be considered a threat to your business.
However, this is not always the case. Sometimes, employees talking among themselves and engaging in gossip can actually be beneficial. Here’s how.
1) Highlighting underperforming staff members
Your employees will have a decent idea of one another when they have been working together for awhile. They will have figured out who is a go-getter, who can be relied on to deliver work on time, and — most importantly — who is something of a slacker.
As a business owner, it’s genuinely beneficial to you to know who has a reputation for laziness and underperforming in the tasks they are given. While employees are unlikely to approach you directly to complain of a colleague, by keeping your ear to the ground, you should be able to pick up the general feeling that staff members have towards one another. If your employees have recognized, en masse, that one of their number is not contributing as they should, then you need to know about the situation so you can take remedial action.
2) Safety concerns
Any business owner knows they have to dedicate their time to ensuring that all the necessary health and safety requirements are met in their workplace. This means engaging safety consultants and implementing their suggestions on a regular basis, but it also means listening to your employees.
If your employees feel something about your workplace is not safe, they are far more likely to highlight these concerns to one another than take them directly to you. You may find that a certain section of your office has a bad reputation among your staff, or there’s a general consensus that the air quality in your office isn’t what it should be. Sometimes, listening to office gossip is the only way to discover these important pieces of information, as no employee likes to take complaints directly to the boss. If you listen out for these generally-accepted and discussed complaints, you could identify areas of concern in your workplace before they become genuinely hazardous.
3) Workload stresses
Managing the workload that you place on your employees is vital for the health of your business. If employees become overworked, they are unlikely to mention this to you– no employee wants to put their head above the parapet and complain about what is being required of them.
However, employees are likely to discuss strenuous workloads with one another. If you listen out for this kind of talk, or hear rumors swirling of people struggling to cope with demands on their time, it will stand you in good stead if you examine the issue and take remedial action where required.
In conclusion
While office gossip can be problematic, it can also be a useful insight into what’s really happening in your business. Listening and paying attention to the rumor mill can benefit your business, and allow you to implement changes that can ultimately be useful to all.
