Gossip at work? Go ahead, it’s beneficial to your employees

Workplace gossip can reduce the possibility of employee turnover and potentially boost the effectiveness of an organisation.

This is one of the key findings from Binghamton University, State University of New York, which built upon previous workplace gossip research, to investigate how employees who gossip might experience social gains.

“Organisations should be aware of the impact of positive gossip because turnover can be a very important factor in dictating an organisation’s success,” said Moon Jinhe, a doctoral student at the Binghamton University School of Management (SOM) who conducted the study with a team of other researchers.

“To make employees participate in positive gossip, the organisation should do the right things by treating their employees well, and being aware their behaviours can show they care about their employees.”

In the recent study, Moon and fellow researchers surveyed 338 health employees in South Korea on positive and negative forms of workplace gossip related to their organisations and management. The results showed that gossip was viewed as more valuable when employees were talking about their management or organisation. The study also indicated no relationship between negative gossip and coercive power in the workplace, contrary to what researchers had expected.

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“We expected that if you participate in negative gossip, maybe you’re trying to appear powerful or controlling or want to ‘beat someone up,’ but we couldn’t find any supportive results,” Moon said, explaining that people saw it to complain and not as a source of information. “So, if you’re thinking about negative workplace gossip, you might want to save your time because there’s no positive impact for you.” The research also highlighted the participation in positive gossip among one’s co-employees that could reduce the chances of voluntary employee turnover, helping to gain personal power and reduce negative feelings towards their workplace.