Can some office gossip be good for the workplace?

WHILE talking smack behind a colleague’s back probably won't produce any personal or organisational benefits, research suggests that sharing neutral or positive information outside of official workplace communication channels will.

- JARED LINDZON

Balance of benefits

According to a study published in the journal Group and Organisational Management, those who feel like they're in the know tend to stick around for longer. The study of 338 nurses found that the ones who shared work-related intel felt a sense of social power and ultimately had lower rates of voluntary turnover.

“When you positively gossip about your workplace, people tend to perceive you as someone with some level of expertise — and this makes you less likely to quit,” says Allison Gabriel, a professor of management at Purdue University and one of the study’s coauthors. “Why would I leave if people think I’m in the know and that I have good things to say?”

However, these kinds of benefits did not extend to those who complained or spoke negatively of others behind their backs. “Interestingly, we didn’t find any of those effects for negative workplace gossip, which is probably the kind that people engage in more,” Gabriel says. “There are some personal benefits to gossip, as long as the talk is positive.”

Unofficial communication

Whether positive or negative, Gabriel says gossip is inevitable whenever a group of people work closely together — and the nature of that gossip can play an outsized role in dictating culture.

“If everybody's sharing positive stories, that can really boost morale,” she says. “If everybody's complaining or talking about how anxious they are, that's going to create problems as employees will be more likely to believe bad things are happening.”