Office Gossip No one gossips about other people’s secret virtues.

Bertrand Russell, British philosopher

Gossip 1 Read the following news article.

a What is the new aw? ______________________________

_______________________________________________

b Do you think it’s a good idea? Why / why not?

City Council gags workers

Municipal employees in the Brazilian city of Cascavel have been banned from gossiping during working hours. Under a new law approved by the city council, public employees who spread rumours or gossip about their colleagues face the sack. The city says civil servants have the right to work in a professional environment and claim the new law will promote integrity in public offices.

2. Find words and phrases in the text which mean the following:

a ordered not to do something ____________________________

b pass on information which is not official and may not be true

c be in a position where you can be dismissed _______________

Discussion 3 Discuss the following with other people in the class.

a How do you define gossip?

b Is it always a bad thing?

c Is it possible to ban it?

d Does your company have a policy on gossip? Have you ever heard of a company that does?

4. The e-mails below were sent to a website for office workers. Read them and classify them in the table. Then compare your answers with the partner.

Gossip is good	Mixed feelings	Gossip is bad

	A	A friendly and chatty work environment makes employees happy. This results in a better level of work from employees, which means the company makes more money. Any employer who bans office gossip will lose money by making the workforce less productive. James Pittman, England		E	Gossip is what someone, somewhere, doesn’t want to know. A delicious pastime – unless you are the one being gossiped about. And certainly not a sackable offence. Pieter Groot, Netherlands
	B	In my place of work gossip is the only way of finding anything out about the company strategy. The management refuses to talk to most of the staff. Janet Jones, Wales		F	Having started a new job a year ago. I made an effort never to engage in gossip. If I’m in a group where gossip starts, I find a reason to leave the area. It can be very damaging to your career and general workplace relations. Sanjay Patel, India
	C	There’s nothing worse than gossip – and it’s mostly propagated by women who have nothing better to do than YAP YAP YAP. Luke McCarthy, Australia		G	Isn’t freedom of speech a basic human right? However, there’s a fine line between harmless and hurtful remarks. I think it’s best left to individuals to decide which is which. Claudia Weber, Germany
	D	Gossip isn’t a bad thing. Is there another way to learn about office politics? I see it is a healthy activity and part of working in an office. Nicole Martin, France		H	Some of my biggest insights into problems at work have occurred while chatting by the coffee machine. Having a (brief) chat about totally unrelated matters, although not directly productive, can actually improve productivity by breaking up the day a little. John Mason, Scotland

4. The phrases below are from the e-mails above. Complete the sentences with your own words and ideas.

a In my place of work ______________________________.

b Any employer who _____________________________ will

_________________________________________________.

c There’s nothing worse than ________________________.

d __________________________________ isn’t a bad thing.

e I make an effort never to ___________________________.

f A _____________________ work environment makes

employees _________________________________________.

4. You are going to read to an interview about office gossip from a newspaper. The words and phrases on the left are from the interview. Match them to the definitions on the right.

a drive for efficiency 1 talking informally

b scrapped 2 mobile refreshments service

c human resources 3 effort to get more work done

d encouraged 4 seen as positive

e chatting 5 not continued with

f tea trolley 6 organization and management of company staff

a

b

c

d

e

f

4. Before you read, decide if you agree with the following statements.

a Companies who provide an opportunity for their workers to socialize are making a mistake.

b People have less time to talk to each other and socialize than before.

с The differences between a good job and a bad job are the social aspects.

d Employees are more productive when they are happy.

e When employees share information and knowledge, the company benefits.

f Companies should take measures to encourage gossip.

4. Read the interview to see if the speaker agrees with you.

A: In this week’s Business Today, we talk to Karina Schmidt. Karina is the author of a report by the Industrial Society which looks at workplace relations, and they’ve changed over the years. Karina, first of all, welcome to the program.

B: Thank you, it’s a pleasure to be here.

A: In your report, you say that many companies nowadays have abandoned some useful institutions which allowed for social interaction.

B: Yes, these days there’s less opportunity to gossip and socialize. For example, often the tea trolley has been scrapped, and having a chat in the tea break was an important part of the working day. The drink after work at the pub around the corner is another example.

A: And why do you think these things have disappeared?

B: I think it’s all part of the revolution in human resources. Some of these traditions have become unfashionable. Talking about things not connected to work is now seen as bad and as wasting time. There are even theories about removing chairs from meeting rooms, so that the meetings are more efficient and finish quickly.

A: And are we more efficient now, then?

B: Well, that’s good question, but in ant case, something has been lost from the workplace which is very important. And perhaps in the long term, with these drives for efficiency, companies are making false economies.

A: In what way?

B: The difference between a good job and a bad job are the human, emotional elements. In other words, happy employees are productive employees. People enjoy the social aspects of work, the personal interaction with colleagues, the friendships…

A: And the gossip!

B: And the gossip. Yes, in some ways gossip is the glue that holds the organization together. Providing communal space such as coffee areas or lunch rooms allows employees to share information and build relationships that benefit both the company and the employees.

A: Are you saying that gossip should be encouraged?

B: Not exactly, it’s obviously a question of balance. All gossip and chatting doesn’t make for an efficient company, but neither does no gossip and chat. All I’m saying is that I think companies would do well to remember this when trying to improve efficiency and bring down costs.

A: Karina, I’m afraid that’s all we’ve got time for. Thank you very much for talking to us. It’s been very interesting.

B: Thank you for inviting me.

A: That’s all for now from Business Today. So, read our next article, next week. Good bye.

Roleplay 9 Work with a partner and perform the following roleplay about office policy on coffee breaks and gossiping.

Speaker A

You are one of the management consultants who prepared the study mentioned in the interview in 8. In a client’s company you see the notice below next to the coffee machine. Try to persuade the client to change the policy.

COMPANY NOTICE

Employees may take up to three coffee breaks per day.

Maximum time at coffee machine: four minutes.

All ‘gossip’ or discussion of non-work related matters is prohibited.

Speaker B

You are the personnel manager of the company with the notice below about coffee breaks. You think a lot of time is wasted by people chatting and gossiping when they are supposed to be working. You are under pressure from the Managing Director to improve the efficiency of the company. Also, recently there have been a lot of rumours about staff cutbacks. Most of them are false but some are true, and this is creating a lot of problems.

COMPANY NOTICE

Employees may take up to three coffee breaks per day.

Maximum time at coffee machine: four minutes.

All ‘gossip’ or discussion of non-work related matters is prohibited.

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