If you ever want to know the depth of a company look at its personnel. It is
not the job skills but the social skills that will make or break a company. The
one sure way for a company to implode is with the hiring of a gossip. They are
the destroyers of people and rarely have mercy on their victims.
One might think it is an exaggeration that a gossip will destroy a company,
but the truth is that eventually people who are the subject of it will leave,
those who spread it will take sides, and those who started it will feign
innocence.
Sample Experience
Once, an employee for a major retailer, a young girl in her twenties was on
the receiving end of the gossip. She had been in a relationship with a man who
was constantly promoted and thus she was promoted as well. Some even claimed
finding them in closets having intercourse during work hours. Of course, it did
not matter if she was actually good at her job because she was the one who
slept her way to the top when she finally ended the relationship.
How many people do you think have heard this story? Every new employee, families
and friends, and even strangers heard this story if it seemed to fit.
What about the person who started the story? No one knows who first told it,
but in the last ten years or so, this story has been told countless problems.
Dealing with Gossip
The toughest gossip to deal with is the kind that has truth to it, such as
the above case. There might have been some exaggerations by the persons who
started it, but the message was clear. It destroyed her credibility and
reputation with all employees who worked with her. Whenever someone was mad
with her the story was dusted off and retold. Women were offended because she
seemed to put the women’s movement back several decades by her behavior. There
was no way that she could defend herself, so she eventually left.
Aftermath of Gossip
Gossip destroys the productivity of employees and leads to atmosphere of
mistrust. The funny thing is that employers do not like gossips either, but
have failed to utilize that “no cause” clause for firing them.
A message needs to be sent loud and clear that gossips and snitches will not
be tolerated. Proverbs 18:8 says, “The words of a gossip are like choice
morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts.” In other words, they cut
people.
Let us differentiate some things. If someone is embezzling from the company
then something should be said. Stupid things like who is dating whom and other
such foolishness can destroy a company.
A company can also be found liable if the information is such that it is
destructive to their employment elsewhere. The main reason that employers will
only confirm dates of employment and not character is because past employees
have successfully brought suit against their former companies that made
comments that may have kept them from getting a job.