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Office Space, Gossip in the Office Space |
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Everyone has seen the television shows and movies where the office space employees gather around the water cooler and gossip about anything and everything. While it can seem harmless, it may not be. So when is gossip going too far and when should the company intervene?
Most gossip is harmless, "I saw so-and-so do this" or "I heard this about so-and-so." If it does not appear to be doing any harm to the subject of the gossip, then it may be harmless. In this manner, the employees are being allowed to bond with one another, and bonding is a very good thing in an office space, and it can be a stress reliever allowing the employee to get his or her mind off their work. If this gossip is not harmful, that is a whole different story.
Some gossip can be hurtful in the office space. A rumor that one of the other employees may be fired due to poor performance, may devastate that employee if he or she happened to over hear. If in fact that rumor is unfounded and there are no plans for that employee to be fired, the employee is worrying needlessly. Every time the boss comes to talk to that employee he or she will worry that the boss is coming to fire them. Because of this, the employee is now too busy worrying about being fired to perform his or her job and not only has it caused undue stress in the office space, but it has now cause his or her work to suffer. So yes, gossip can be bad for the office space.
Another type of gossip can be even more devastating. Rumors of illicit affairs and romance in the office space. Say a man has been heard to say that he has been having an affair with another woman. The woman's husbands best friend who works with her has heard it. He goes home and tells her husband that his wife is cheating on him and the husband is now angry and suspicious of everything the wife does. No matter how many times she tells him she is not cheating on him, he doesn't believe her. After a time, he cannot take the paranoia and decides to divorce her. It turns out that the man lied, and she never had the affair at all. Now the woman's life has been shattered over something that never even happened.
As shown from this illustration, certain things should not be gossiped about. These things should be made known up front and there should be a disciplinary action associated with not following the office policy and it should be strictly adhered to so as to prevent unwanted outcomes from something that is not true.
To conclude, office space gossip can be fun and entertaining, but it can also affect the performance of the employee and if it goes too far can even affect the employee beyond the office space. There will never be a way to rid the office space completely of gossip, but it can be regulated. If strict rules are followed, it can limit the damage done by negatively impacting gossip. |
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