Evolutionary theories show that gossip developed in order to facilitate cooperation in a group. By talking about other people, we can learn who to collaborate with and whom to stay away from. This helps a group to work better together. In the modern workplace this ingrained behavior teaches us which colleagues can be trusted and which ones you should be careful with.
However, there is different types of gossip. When someone just talks trash, commenting on someone’s appearance for example, this serves no positive purpose. But a study from 2019 has shown that most gossip is neither positive nor negative, but neutral. The same study has shown that we gossip on average 52 minutes a day, which is a lot, but the content is largely not as malicious as we assume. It is merely about a colleague’s holiday or someone’s daughters’ university and so on.
Gossip doesn’t always mean someone is talking bad behind someone else’s back. Surveys suggest that people are primarily trying to make sense of their environment. Gossip helps us validate our emotions and find out where other people stand on things. It helps us see if other people perceive the world in the same way we do. If someone at work starts a discussion on how many sick leave days a colleague takes, it can help find out how much sick leave is regarded as appropriate among your colleagues, as well as who is empathetic or mean towards that colleague.
Hearing gossip about colleagues can also make us reflect on our own behavior. Being the subject of the gossip can also lead us to change our behaviors. A study from 2014 has shown that hearing negative gossip about others made listeners feel superior and boosted their self-esteem. Is also made the listeners feel more vulnerable to similar treatment. When they heard flattering gossip about others it gave them ideas how to improve themselves, so they could be more like the person being gossiped about.
Office gossip can help keeping selfish and immoral behavior in check. People being gossiped about try to be accepted in the group and often change the behavior discussed by others. Even the people not gossiped about become more cooperative with one another in order not to be gossiped about in the first place.
During the pandemic days people are trying to navigate through uncertainties. People are trying to find out what other people are thinking and doing. This means for example trying to find out whether colleagues are in the market for a new job that allows more flexible work-from-home arrangements. People are longing for information and try to find people that are in the same boat.
Gossip has existed long before the pandemic, survived during it and will live forever after it. We shouldn’t feel too guilty about the need to discuss other people’s lives. As long as it is not malicious it can even serve a positive purpose.
