How Can Managers Cope With Office Gossip?

A managing director of a recruitment service company in Sydney recently encountered a problem: he could not raise wages for all employees, but worried that not doing so would affect employee morale.

So he decided to give it a try.

He told a reliable subordinate to plans to raise salaries for a few important employees, and the employees who got the raise would also be more responsible.

As expected, the news spread quickly in the company.

Surprisingly, employees are actively looking at this plan.

So he decided to put the pay plan into practice.

Grant Michelson, director of research at Audencia Nantes Business School, Nantes, France, said the incident was "high-level", said Nantes.

As the economy slows down and businesses cut costs, office rumours are likely to focus on layoffs.

Managers have always believed that layoff rumors will affect work and morale.

"We must act on rumors," he said.

But many people believe that informal communication channels and conversations in the workplace may be beneficial to employers.

Frank McAndrew, a professor of psychology at Knox University in Illinois, USA, points out that gossip is irresistible in any case. Frank McAndrew.

"Managers can't stop them," he said.

But there is a dark side to gossip.

Mike Andrew believes that when employees' minds are occupied by rumors, they will become paralyzed, making it difficult for managers to implement reforms.

Besides, if you become the target of gossip, you will rarely feel that gossip is friendly.

But managers ignore the rumors and pay for them.

As Mackson said, "it's not that we should take action when we hear a bit of rumor, but that if the source is reliable, it may be worth listening to."

He talked about a survey of two male psychiatrists in a British hospital in 2005. The two doctors had sexual harassment against female patients for more than 20 years but were not found.

The final report suggests that hospital management should pay more attention to rumors about sexual harassment of patients.

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Mike Emmott, a staff relations consultant at the CIPD, believes that the only way to prevent rumors is to keep an open mind about Mike.

"They must appear at the first time.

Managers must be honest and trustworthy.

Even if you don't know what's going on, you must be honest.

You must be able to make people want to talk with you.

If you want to test employees' reaction to a project through a rumor network, like the managing director of the above recruitment service company in Sydney, it is very important to select the appropriate news disseminator, he said.

"It must be your subordinates who have established trust relationships with them, whether they are established through personal or official business.

But their positions can not be much lower than yours, otherwise they will not be able to communicate easily.

Eimert said that for employees, it's important not to act as if they like gossip.

"Of course you don't want people to feel that you still have time to waste when this road is uncertain."

Stephen Viscusi (Stephen Viscusi), author of How to Bullet-Proof Your Job, believes that the best strategy is to maintain friendly relations with office gossip.

The trick is to absorb information, but do not spread it.

To be detached, though you are archiving the news for future reference, you can also use it to keep your job if necessary. "

He gave an example: one of his friends heard that the company would be bought, so he postponed his vacation.

Later, rumors became true, because he was working when the news was announced, so he could show his exact role in the merger.

Mackson believes that gossip is conducive to employee solidarity and encourages people to become good citizens.

He said, "if I am a lazy person, I may be reluctant to steal some laziness, but then people will tell me behind the back that my reputation in the company will be damaged, so I may have to work hard."

Besides, Eimert thinks gossip can be very interesting.

"If there are no gossip in the workplace, it will be lifeless and dysfunctional."