Do people at your workplace gossip? Does it seem that there is too much politics at work?

Question

Do you feel that you have to participate in it ? do you anyway?

why? Are you afraid of losing your job , if you dont join "the team"?

Answer 1

I have primarily worked in uni offices and departments. There is plenty of gossip to get chin wags going, but oddly, most of it is rather constrained, or has been so far.
--That Cheeky Lad

Answer 2

I work for the railway and the gossip within this industry probably couldn't be rivalled in any other industry in the world. Rumours are always rife and take only a matter of hours to spread throughout the whole network, and this without the aid of modern gossip media such as email. That said, I love to hear the gossip and if I know some facts for sure then I will add my tuppence worth to the fire as well. Fabulous!! Most people are forward enough however to say outright if they don't want to join in, but these people are very few. Don't believe what you hear about women being the worse gossips though, you should see and hear the men, like old ladies over the garden fence they are!

Answer 3

Office politics is always present in all work places. Most of the time, it irritates people. What I hate about it most is that when you are doing well in your job, someone tries to put you down. I don't know if it is jealousy or what, but I hate it. Why can't they just mind their own business and focus on their work. However, some say that it is the spice of office life.

Together with that is gossip. You may participate, if you want, but please do not make any comment which might put you on a spot. You may be quoted to saying this or that, which may be detrimental to your performance at the office. Likewise, be careful of people you go with during these "pep talks," they may be spying for your boss or catching for confidential information which they can use to their advantage... but to your disadvantage.

But as long as you are doing your job well and right, even without "connections" with the higher ups, you can surely go a long way. Just keep up the good work and try to learn and learn something new each day. Prayers help too.

Answer 4

Every job I have had it seems the only thing they had in common were the nasty gossip and politics. I have learned the hard way to stay neutral. Listening is recommended, even if you hear it from two people in the same conflict. The problems occurr when you side up with one or worse both and then they find out and you end up as the villian. Stay busy and disregard office gossip!!

Answer 5

My office has a rediculous level of gossip and unfortunately last year I got myself involved with a particular situation which ultimately could have lost me my job.

The person on the receiving end of the gossip made an official complaint believing what I had said to be something completely different to the comment I had actually made.

It was a very stressful time waiting for the companies decision as to whether I had acted inappropriately and although they upheld the complaint made, did not take any action because the conversation I had had happened away from the office.

The lesson learnt was never to trust people you work with and to keep your work life and social life completely separate.

Answer 6

the thing about gossipping is it brings people together and to a certain degree it helps form the bond needed for a great team.
i work in a factory with a lot of grown men. it's incredible. big brother wouldn't get a look in. clicks here and there. the smooth operators who can work all sides, the guys who really hate each other but put on a friendly face when working together. grown men bitching about other grown men every day. this guy got this and this guy got that. you pull your hair out some times.
the thing is you cant help but join in with it.!!
the really weird thing is our company is fast out preforming all others in the group and the group hr sing our praises.twisted or what

Answer 7

You could film a mini series at my place of work we got it all: sex, lies, deception,corruption, gossip, theft, this place makes young and the restless look tame. You have no choice to take part in it otherwise you would be so far out of the loop you'd have no idea whats going on. Most of it I could careless about but every now and then you hit on a great tid bit. Its human nature to stick your nose where it doesn't belong we all do it right. As long as no one gets hurt then its fine but when it crosses the line and it destroys someones reputation or causes them to have a hard time at work to the point where they quit then I don't agree with it.

Answer 8

When I worked in an office there were people who gossiped and you could participate or not. Sometimes I did.....sometimes I didn't.

However, we were all adults and were treated that way, so your job wasn't in jeopardy as long as you did what you were hired to do.

Answer 9

People will always gossip no matter where they are.
For your own benefit I would suggest that you remain noncommittal, stay neutral. If they want yout opinion and on this or that person, state that you don't know and slowly re-treat to your work area, and in future avoid gatherings where you see the gossippers.

Answer 10

Where I work you'd probably be more likely to be fired if you gossip. So don't worry, just get on with your job, you have friends outside of work anyway.