How to Deal With Vicious Work Gossip

Hoping to prevent gossip altogether is like trying to "change employees' musical tastes," reports Nigel Nicholson in a 1998 study published in the Harvard Business Review, which states that evolution has "hardwired" the gossiping tendency in humans. Instead, Nicholson suggests that anyone trying to deal with vicious workplace gossip should instead focus on the nature of the gossip and try to prevent any mean-spirited, dishonest or unkind statements; in other words, take the "vicious" out of the gossip.

Instructions

1. Refuse to engage. Whether you are a manager, supervisor or employee, you can have a direct impact on gossip in the workplace by simply refusing to listen to gossip or pass it on. If you hear a gossipy statement about someone else, explain that you don't like to talk about other people when they are not there to defend themselves.

2. Try to determine the origin of the gossip. This can be difficult once a rumor has spread through the organization, but by asking trusted co-workers, you may be able to track the gossip back to a single coworker or small group of employees.

3. Confront the gossiper; she is probably counting on the fact that you won't confront the issue. Pull the gossiper aside and tell her you are aware of what she's been saying. Tell her to stop spreading untrue and negative rumors immediately. Speak calmly and neutrally, and avoid becoming emotional or defensive. Once you have said your piece, end the conversation and don't engage in an argument about the gossip.

4. Save any evidence of the gossip, such as emails, and document conversations and any details you discover. Retain this information in case it is needed later if you decide to legally address the issue.

5. Report the issue to human resources or your manager if the gossip doesn't stop. The organization should be prepared to deal with gossip, especially malicious and damaging gossip, by an appropriate remedy such as counseling, training or discipline.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't assume that your manager knows about or condones the gossip. He may simply be "out of the loop," someone who doesn't hear much of the office gossip due to his position.

• Failing to deal with the gossip could imply to others that some truth exists in the rumor.

References

• Florida International University; Facing Down Workplace Gossip; Robert Bacal
• TechRepublic; Strategies for Quashing Idle Gossip in the Organization; Ken Hardin; October 2002
• "Women's Health"; Mean Girls in the Office; November 2009
• U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institute of Health; How Hardwired is Human Behavior?; N. Nicholson; 1998