Most Employees Peeved By Workplace Gossip
Gossiping at work and leaving a mess in communal spaces top the list of the biggest workplace pet peeves, according to a recent survey.
From: Inc.com By: Tamara Schweitzer
Anyone who has spent long hours at the office knows that you are bound to uncover some annoying habits about your colleagues. According to a recent survey about workplace pet peeves released by Atlanta-based staffing firm Randstad USA, gossip tops the list when it comes to employee annoyances.
Out of 1,540 U.S. employees surveyed, 60 percent revealed that their biggest pet peeve in the workplace was employees who gossiped, followed by other people’s poor time management skills, at 54 percent. Colleagues who leave a mess in communal spaces rounded out the top three workplace pet peeves at 45 percent.
“As the multi-generational workplace evolves and with colleagues spending more time together, personal and professional behaviors begin to blend, affecting overall workplace culture, attitudes and experiences within an organization,” Genia Spencer, managing director of operations and human resources at Randstad USA, said in a statement.
For the entire article go to Inc.com
Corra knows there are more than a few employees with big mouths. Those mouths can cause trouble in the work place, and that kind of trouble can lead to a drop in morale, costly litigation and a depletion of your work force. Employees leave when they find themselves lost in a sour working environment.
And gossips generally have much to say about nothing. Nothing good, anyway. As a rule they are not gret managers of time and therefor not particularly productive people. Gossips usually don’t know when to leave it alone or just be cool.
You don’t want gossips in your business. You don’t want the type of gossip who will put your business in the street, meaning they will tell clients and associates about the inner workings of your enterprise. On a good day this is no good. And on the bad days, this loose lips can, as they used to say, “sink ships.”
Loose talk can make your business vulnerable to poaching and other intrusive acts. And, worse, gossips are hard to get rid of because they, well, gossip.
So before you hire anyone, have a pre-employment screening program in place. Run background checks, and conduct some personal reference verifications to help assure yourself that you are not mistakenly hiring and unbridled broadcast system. The personal verification check will help determine what their peers had to say.
Check them out before you hire.
