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Keeping workplace gossip at bay (View Comments)
Ankita Shreeram
Posted On Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 05:09:39 PM
What do employees do when they take a break from work? Most often than not, the answer is – gossip. Harmless everyday gossip is inevitable and acceptable by all. But when gossip turns into a medium of spreading malicious rumours, we have a problem at hand. Controlling the grapevine is one of the most challenging duties for HR because it’s near impossible to detect the source.
“Rumours are baseless, irrational and spread by unsatisfied employees within the organisation. Rumours have no logic and explanations; they’re just part of gossip and entertainment within the organisation. It could be pertaining to increments, promotions, lay-offs, internal gossips etc.,” says Prafullachandra Bhamare, HR manager, Neev Group of Companies. Dharmesh Mistry, vice president and chief talent officer, Ugam Solutions stresses on the fact that rumours are ‘unverified’. “A rumour could be defined as an unverified piece of information which spreads through the informal employee network. Usually one sees that the rumour may be true but the information may not be complete or not appropriately contextualised and hence is unreliable,” he explains.
Rumours can create tension and fear among employees, leading to feelings of diminished job security. “Unverified, incomplete or partial information can create unnecessary panic or set incorrect expectations amongst employees. It harms the organisation in two ways. First, by the way of incorrect information causing it damage and second by way of the additional efforts that would be needed from management to undo the damage done by the unverified and incorrect information. The popular health adage ‘Prevention is better than cure’ is equally applicable here too,” says Mistry. Bhamare feels that rumours can even lead to employees quitting the organisation. “Employees may lose their concentration and performance. They feel insecure and scared. It may lead to high attrition rate too. Employees feel de-motivated and aloof from other team members. Rumours can spread negative vibes within the organisation,” he avers.
HR can deal with rumours in a number of ways. “It’s not just the duty of HR but every dedicated and devoted employee has to take care of spreading the rumours. They should first confirm the logic and factual base for any such rumour. If they can apply their conscience and rationality the rumour spreader can be easily ignored. As far as HR is concerned tactfully handling the rumour spreader is a critical issue. Brainwash the culprit; warn him/her or take strict disciplinary action are few methods. By taking the appropriate action against the culprit organisational health can be improved,” suggests Bhamare.
Mistry believes that most of the times rumours are born quite innocently. “In my view, 90-95 per cent of rumours are not intended to spread as false ones. If an employee is sharing some unverified information, he or she does not intend to harm anyone, but is just doing so to pass on the information to his/her colleagues and in this chain of ‘Chinese Whisper’ things do get misinterpreted and convoluted. The best way to prevent such things from happening is to have clear and open communication channels.” He offers more ways in which rumours can be minimised, “The communication is intended to state the complete truth and put it in the right context. It is important for HR to be sensitive of the developments in the organisation which could possibly affect employees positively or more often than not negatively and ensure that this is appropriately put in the right context. It is important for HR to ensure that it is well informed of the organisational developments. When it comes to employee communication – there is nothing like ‘over communication’.”
It also falls upon an employee to not encourage rumours. “An employee should first try to verify the information before passing it on and under no situation should they try to manipulate and rephrase the information such that it loses its correct meaning. Also, it is important for organisations to create an open-door culture where an employee feels comfortable and empowered to reach out to his/her manager to verify what he/she has heard,” says Mistry. Bhamare opines, “Focus should always be on betterment of performance and value addition towards the organisation. Open and transparent timely communication from top management to all employees always helps in the organisation to stay away from rumours.”
Thus, the best way to deal with rumours is to keep employees in the loop and leave no room for speculation.
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