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Wednesday, 29 November, 2000, 11:10 GMT
Is office gossip good for you?
Bringing back the tea lady and the Friday night office drink will benefit relations in the workplace, according to a new report.Disclaimer: The BBC will put up as many of your comments as possible but we cannot guarantee that all e-mails will be published. The BBC reserves the right to edit comments that are published.
The report by the Industrial Society recommends that employers should give their staff more room to enjoy their work, should see sociability at work as morale boosting and not in opposition to efficiency and productivity.
"Gossip is the cement which holds organisations together," says report author Judith Doyle.
Is gossip good for companies? Would you like to see the tea lady bought back? Is socialising at work good for you?
Oscar Edule, Uganda
I firmly believe that socialising with those you work with can only be beneficial. The Friday night drink is very much alive and well with us and I have made good friends out of many of my colleagues through socialising. It has brought definite benefits in helping us to understand each other better and provided a release from the pressures of office work. Yes we bitch and moan sometimes but at the end of the day we all work better together and the office environment is much healthier as a result.
I don't advocate compulsion though as there will always be those who prefer to keep their professional and private lives separate and if that works for them, fine.If you hate your colleagues so much that the thought of socialising with then is anathema then I'd suggest changing jobs. It can't be fun working with people you don't like!
For all I know gossiping is to talk about someone behind his back for evil intents. This means that
gossip is a vice. So how on earth then can we begin to extol it for whatever reason?
We in this country do not have "tea ladies", but never abandoned the tradition of offering tea or coffee to a visitor, or to each other, as the need is felt. Maybe we can teach a thing or two to the "stuck up" west! The wheels of business and friendship get well oiled this way.
With many people working longer hours it seems to be becoming accepted that a little time out for a chat or net surfing is essential to recharge the batteries now and again. I don't mind a bit of banter within working hours but draw the line at socialising after work. Pay hard-earned cash to go for a Christmas meal with colleagues I barely tolerate the rest of the year - sorry, I have better things to do with my time and money.
Socialising with colleagues and office gossip has the advantage that it helps clarify who stands where and who is an ally of whom without having to find out in the 'task environment'. It thus removes ambiguity, and might increase efficiency. Also, if gossiping/socialising/tea breaks become institutionalised and accepted, they might lose their acid edge.
Yes, providing you are not the subject of it.
Gossip is good for those who have in common their work and aspirations for their contribution to it. After all, much office gossip is in reality shop talk. Bright people bounce sparks off one another. Remember what the coffeehouses did for English Literature in the Eighteenth Century? It's much the same at work. Good office gossip is to the workplace what the Parisian Left Bank has been to the arts: a forum for mutual energising, collaboration, and creativity.
Gossip is good in so far as it levels the ground with all superiors and subordinates alike. However, it should be noted that in every office there is always one person that 'knows it all'. Now that person should be fired. Otherwise, it sure helps people vent themselves and unburden their individual resentment towards specific individuals during the course of the work day.
Bhumii Bhatt, UK
A good social atmosphere is extremely important at work. However gossiping can lead to rumour which can lead to damaging people's careers.
'Tea ladies' are just a reason to set time-controlled breaks rather than letting people work to their own abilities. I hate to leave my work half-done to go have a break but if you have arranged 'tea ladies' then I would have to leave my work or miss the break.
We all need a break from time to time. The average attention span is something like 40 minutes. After that, you need to stretch your legs, chat about something inane or just remind yourself that you're human. The problem comes if you haven't got people around you can gossip with: I use my little breaks to catch up with the news on this site or unwind somewhere like the 9 to 5 cafe.
Gossip isn't all bad, it can be malicious, but usually it's mindless fun. Like the time I and my friend (and colleague) Sarah found out that we were having an affair with each other, she'd left her husband and she was having my love child!
I think the Tea lady should be brought back. You spend a lot of your life at work, so it would be nice to have some authorised time to chat to your work mates, without always having to look over your shoulder in case the Boss walks in.
Positive conversations and positive thinking
should be the cement of the workplace
not gossips and negative comments
(the current norm).
The tea lady is not an extinct species. Several lone survivors can be found at a secret location in a University in the Midlands. It certainly was a surprise to find them there but they certainly help to improve the atmosphere in the office.
Garry White's fears may apply in some companies but not ours. We engineers have lunch at the pub on a voluntary basis at least once a week, and we're happy to drink with other departments as and when. We're a friendly bunch with shared interests besides the job we're being paid for. Quite a few of us travel to get to work so there's no compulsion to drink lots after work before going home.
Stop reading the internet and get back to work, you lazy slackers - and NO talking!
I DO NOT want to socialise with the people I work with, I have friends for that.
I'm all for fostering personal relationships at work, as well as after work. But I do have a problem with the kind of culture where you're seen as 'antisocial' or 'not a team player' if you don't want to socialise out of office hours. Personally, I choose to spend my time outside work with my wife, and I don't see why this should be seen as a bad thing by employers. So yes, it's good for morale that we should socialise with colleagues, but only if it's on a voluntary basis!
When things are really busy, it's good to get away from the desk for a chat (or look at websites- like now!). I'm sure I'm more productive this way. At the end of the day however, as much as I like my colleagues, I love to get home. I think forced socialising outside the office is a bad idea, and 'team events' are just not me!
Given that we spend so much of our time at work, it's vital that we get on with our colleagues. Communication is key to team building and fostering good relationships. Socialising at work should be seen in a more positive light. I have never been so unhappy as when I was in a job which frowned upon any kind of 'idle chit-chat.' Thankfully I am now working for a far more enlightened organisation.
Claire Smith, UK
Carry on gossiping, I say. It's morale boosting and can be a very effective safety valve when things become stressful. As for Friday night drinks with my colleagues, I avoid them like the plague. The last thing I want to do after a long week is to spend more time talking shop and putting on an act for senior management when I could be at home relaxing with my partner.
Gossip is an excellent way of releasing stress and building good relationships. Being aware of other people is absolutely key when you're in a hard-working 'heavy' environment. If we don't know the people around us we can't recognise when they're struggling or feeling extreme pressure and that can lead to far more serious problems.
Some companies do take it that it is the top management and CEO's as the only ones who deserve to be served tea and have fun on Fridays excluding the entire staff. This is in a way creating a strong reinforced wall between management and the rest of staff members. To break the wall everyone must be included irrespective of the portfolio he/she is holding. Let it be a cleaner, gardener or CEO. Everyone contributes to the company's success nor matter how little the contribution is. I would like to urge CEO's to give this a second thought. We have to take a company as a "One Big Family" where everyone is expected to be ever-smiling and this will enhance productivity level.
Garry White, UK
I feel that if the team get out of the office it will increase the productivity of the team. A person will perform better in an environment that they are comfortable in. As for brining back the tea lady, it will certainly end the fights of "whose turn is it to get the drinks?"
I don't know if it's good for you, but Derek in accounts says it is. He would say that though as he's seeing Sue from Human Resources. I think Ed in Postal probably agrees, but with everything that's gone on between him and Sue behind closed doors I just don't know. And as for Nigel in retail . . . . .
I disagree with the concept of formal tea breaks and even a formal lunch break during a working day. However, I think that non-timed breaks and discussions are very beneficial. As long as there is team spirit and the team-members are aware of the time they spend chatting only good will result. This is the formula for a dynamic and successful working atmosphere.
Between you and me I've heard that a bit of social chat around the office is beneficial, but we had better make sure this sort of talk doesn't spread.
Pauline, Republic of Korea
I think it's absolutely necessary to take time out sometimes and catch up with what's happening on the grapevine. And a good social environment always helps employees' morale. The company I work for are great. We have a TV room in our canteen. There are regular social events organised for the employees and a real sense of team-work is encouraged.
However, there have also been situations, where malicious gossip has got out of hand. And on certain work nights out. People have found themselves in compromising situations with other work colleagues. Which I don't believe is always a good thing!
Roger Sayer, USA
What you call gossip is actually the grapevine which runs through all organisations - big, medium and small. Top managers use it to their advantage as another line of communication and feedback system. You can pass on subtle messages to your employees and receive their responses. Successful organisations and good managers make use of this technique. Try it!!
There's no harm in the odd bit of harmless gossip, as long as everybody can join in. A workplace can quickly become a very nasty environment though when there is a multitude of back-stabbing conversations going on behind everybody's backs. It normally leads to paranoia, a lack of trust of your colleagues and ultimately, a mass exodus of staff.
R. M. Butt, Pakistan
Yes, gossip is an essential activity in work settings. It provides not only a chance for work colleagues to reaffirm interpersonal bonds and common interests/experiences, but also, and perhaps more importantly from a productivity perspective, functions to build and maintain solidarity between its participants. Any manager with more than a basic understanding of his/her staff will realise that 'gossip' is far more than tittle-tattle but rather is essential to the maintenance of interpersonal relations on which productivity depends.
I'd like to illustrate the distinction I see between gossip and healthy social interaction.
In light of the recently published report which states that British people are working longer hours than ever, socialising with your colleagues can only been seen as a good thing. Basically, if you are spending so much time with the people you work with, then it is essential that you get on - or at least attempt to get on with them.
Tea ladies are an excellent idea. Bring them back! It will save all that time wasted gossiping by the coffee machine!
Alex Xeman, NZ
Yes! I've never seen a social group that did not have a certain amount of gossip. Talking about little problems, have a laugh about them and carry on working is better than getting frustrated. It's a different story of course when people get excluded or isolated as the result of gossip, but a socially strong group will not allow that to happen.
If gossip really is the cement that binds organisations the future for British industry is bleak. Compare and contrast with the strong corporate responsibility and work ethic encouraged in Japan then wonder why UK industry can't compete.
Who said it had gone? All the gossip I receive
now comes via my email and sometimes it can be lively
and electric stuff with pictures etc. Email also seems to be
the medium of chatting up the opposite sex as well as a good
gossip. However drawbacks are that one has to trust the receiver
or the email could be used to get you in trouble and I'd hate to be on the
receiving end of gossip. So in a way its good because it helps human
relationships, but it can be bad as gossip inevitably contains exaggerations and even lies.
The Industrial Society appears to be undermining the very pillars of the capitalist organisations and their production techniques - efficiency, effectiveness, productivity and profitability - by bringing back the gossip and the tea ladies!
Given that success depends more and more upon your ability to interact with and influence other people, anything that encourages people to develop this skill is to be encouraged. I wouldn't go as far as saying gossip holds organisations together, but it can brighten up a dull Monday morning!
It is absolutely right that employees should be treated as people rather than machines. When managers manage excessively it breeds resentment, hostility, unwillingness to be flexible and hence lower productivity. Simply giving people the chance to chatter a bit (within reason, of course) and be individuals rather than cogs in the corporate machine is essential if productivity is to be achieved.
Mark B, UK
Of course socialising at work is good for you - and the company too. You can only retain your concentration for a fixed time, so your employer should really encourage you to get on with your workmates!
Of course a certain amount of gossip is good. When we gossip, our frontal minds are away from our work for a few minutes. We learn more about our colleagues and see the world around us in a different light - from the other person's perspective. Then when we return to our desks, we are refreshed and ready to tackle the job we put aside earlier. Bring back Mrs Char!
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