How to deal with office gossips

Office gossips is a norm in corporate world. Most of the gossips are harmless. There is no harm to gossip about the person who loves coffee very much. There is no harm to gossip about the colleague who nearly slips in the toilet.

However, harmful gossips can create a lot of distress.

If your boss is the source of the harmful gossips, you may feel hurt, because he betrays your confidence.

Before you plan on a confrontation with your boss, please think about the intention of your boss. Is your boss a very talkative person who wishes no harm to anyone? Is the gossip going to ruin your career in any way? Is the gossip just a harmless conversation or malicious falsehood?

It probably does not matter if your boss tells the whole organization you are pregnant. Your colleagues are as happy for you as your employer had.

It does matter when your boss expresses a lack of confidence in your ability to perform up to expectation.

Do ask yourself: Have you in any way disrupt the department or project? Does your employer have any reason to demonstrate lack of confidence in your ability?

It is very awkward to put a formal complaint to the Human Resources Department, to find that your boss has valid reasons to mistrust your ability. The entire organization will side with your boss, even if the HR Manager forces him to issue a written apology to you.

If the gossip is nasty and false, you can discuss with the Human Resources Department about the best way to deal with the harmful gossip.

The HR Manager can talk to the manager of your supervisor about your concern. The HR Manager can transfer you to other department (if necessary).

Do show respect for the professionalism of the HR department, and the organization's policy. When the HR department sets up meeting to solve the problem, please act professionally. Do not create a personal attack on your boss.

Instead of saying, “you should not” to your boss, you should address the malicious gossip. You can start by saying that “this gossip about my coming late every morning is not true”.

If you know that your boss is the worst gossiper on Earth, you can stop your secret from leaking out.

Just seal your mouth and do not reveal any personal experience. When he does not know, he cannot gossip. Do not talk to any colleague who is very close to your boss. Do not share your secret with anyone who tends to spread gossip.

If you are always doing something wrong at work, you are hurting your reputation. Even without a gossiping boss, everyone will know about your mistakes. The customers will complain. The suppliers will complain. The IT department in charge of printing out the report will see many mistakes you have made.

The best defense against harmful gossips is to perform your job well. People do appreciate good employees. When they are chatting with each other at lunch, they will compare the working attitude of their colleagues.

You cannot run away from gossips. You can only ensure that your boss and colleagues have nothing bad against you. Do prove yourself as a exemplary employee.

Do not support your employer in spreading gossip about others. Since you hate the whole organization to know your secret, you should not break confidence and gossip about your colleagues with your boss.

You do not need to report the mistake of your colleague to your boss. When the mistake is a major mistake, the system will flag the mistake. When the mistake is a small mistake, you should not alert your boss. The entire organization will hate you for making a big issue out of a small mistake.