A Leader’s Guide to Stop Gossip in the Workplace

The workplace is no place for gossip. Gossip in the workplace works against the culture of high trust, morale, performance, and retention that you, as a leader or future leader, are working to cultivate and maintain.

If you’re concerned that your team is on edge because your work environment is filled with rumors and smack talk, their sense of safety, belonging, and camaraderie is either in the tank or at risk.

Helping to fuel workplace gossip is what’s happening outside of work that you can’t control. It’s the stress of the volatile job market, economy, and the political landscape. On top of that is the Iran war and rising oil prices that hit close to home, from rising gas prices to everyday expenses. Learn more in my latest Job Market Report.

Maybe you’re new on the job and team or company gossip and dynamics are an a-ha moment for you. Maybe your concerns have been brewing over time, and you’re realizing it’s time to step in. No matter what the reason or how you became aware, you have the ability to make a positive impact starting now.

Gossip in the workplace is more common than most think, so take comfort that you’re not alone. Just consider that according to LiveCareer’s 2025 survey, 58% observed workplace gossip weekly, 47% believe gossip creates tension and distrust, and 43% have been the subject of workplace gossip.

I’ve worked in HR for two decades, and I’ve seen the lasting impact workplace gossip causes. It is demoralizing, damaging, and downright toxic. Hard stop. It’s rampant, and it can make a job feel like hell.

Impacts of Workplace Gossip

This should not be news to anyone in the workplace: When a workplace is rife with gossip, it hurts the performance of the entire team and the company’s bottom line. As morale suffers, work quality declines. The emotional toll on its workers can lead to mental and physical health problems in both the short and long term. As employees get increasingly preoccupied with the latest rumors, instead of focusing on their work, a toxic work environment can easily grow and become unable to function effectively. This becomes a place where talent goes to die.

Ouch.

According to workplace mental health scholar and author Jason Walker, “Gossip acts as an acid, corroding the workplace foundation silently and swiftly. When people are subject to gossip, they often feel betrayed and undervalued. This breach of trust leads to more guarded interactions and stifles communication and creativity while also hampering collaboration.”

No one wants to work in a toxic workplace.

Be the change you want to see.

How to Recognize Office Gossip

You might think you don’t gossip. But even as a leader, you might be leaning into gossipy behavior more than you might think. Odds are good that you have knowingly or unknowingly participated in workplace gossip. Here are some rules of thumb for you to check yourself against. Make sure you’re not part of the problem so you can build trust with your team and keep a distance from the 80% of workers who feel they work in a toxic environment, based on Monster’s 2025 poll.

It’s Gossip If:

• It’s negative comments or speculative talk about someone who isn’t present: That person’s reputation or personal life is painted in a negative light. If that person entered your conversation midstream, it would feel awkward. For example: “Did you hear Sarah got passed over for the promotion? I heard it's because she's always leaving early. Probably can't handle the workload. Plus, I saw on her LinkedIn that she's been looking at other jobs..."
• It lacks empathy, is biased, and/or judgmental: True leaders don’t behave this way. If you look back at your conversation and feel guilty and out of integrity, that was likely harmful gossip. Gossip can also give you a high, where you feel like you’re bonding at someone else’s expense.

• There is a negative motivation behind the conversation: When people are gossiping, their intention is usually to harm someone’s reputation, boost their own status, or just get entertainment at someone else’s expense.
• You’re sharing private information about another person without permission: If you’re sharing news about a person’s life, when they’d prefer to be the one to tell people and to decide who they tell, then it’s probably gossip.

How to Stop Gossip at Work

Everyone is looking to you to determine appropriate workplace behaviors. While you’ll never fully be able to control gossip in the workplace, through your behaviors, communication, and the culture of belonging you work to create, you have the influence to create a culture where gossip has no place on your team or within your orbit. 

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1. Determine if you are looking to put a stop to one or two lone wolf destructive gossipers, or a culture of gossip as a whole.
2. Reflect on how leaders and influencers you admire have, or would handle gossip, in your situations through their behaviors. Now think how you might do it, but using your own personal leadership style.
3. Look back on examples of how transparent communications helped unite colleagues and productivity, and then flip it around to think about how poor communications led to poor morale, hushed employee conversations, and a fear to speak freely.

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Model Positive Professional Behavior

Remember that just as gossip and rumors kill company culture, communication and transparency feed it. So be proactive with your communication. Let it flow and encourage your team to share their updates with each other and you so you create an environment of sharing. No secrets or favoritism.

• Communication Transparency: When you have information that relates to company or team changes that are in process or coming down the pike, say so. Even if they’re not fully baked. It’s OK if you don’t know everything. Just say what you know or what you can say. And if rumors are circulating, whether about layoffs, new benefits, bonuses, or org changes, just nip them in the bud. Be transparent and put them to rest in individual or team meetings. Get those squashed and move on.
•  Encourage Open Dialogue: Create a psychologically safe workplace for your employees to ask questions openly in private and group sessions without fear of retribution. If you are in an office or in a meeting room and can keep your door open or ajar, do so. It sends a clear signal that you are available. Leave time at the end of meetings for open questions. If there is silence, let it sit for a moment instead of rushing to fill it.
• Company Policy: Does your company have a policy on workplace gossip? Periodically remind your team about the policy on gossip at the same time you review other key policies. If you’re addressing rumors, this is the time to remind everyone specifically about the gossip policy, the reasons the policy is in place, and any potential consequences.

Draw a Hard Line Against Gossip

Do not participate in or encourage office gossip. Do everything you can to prevent it. Shut it down when you see it. Keep in mind that if you find yourself in a gossip conversation in the workplace, even if you are not the one gossiping, you need to send a clear signal that the behavior is unacceptable by either following your company policy and/or modeling good behavior. If you don’t, you’re technically encouraging their behavior by giving them a space to gossip, or if you nod and smile.

You need to unhook yourself through clear body language and/or by redirecting the conversation to signal the inappropriateness of the topic. Participants will get the picture that you want no part of it. Especially if they’ve seen you do it before. Consistency here matters more than perfection. 

If you need to be more direct, there are effective non-confrontational and boundary-setting options for you to consider, such as saying:

• Hey, sorry, I need to catch up with someone.
• I’ll need to catch up with you later, I’m on a deadline.
• By the way, have you tried that new coffee place around the corner?

• Just so this doesn’t feel gossipy, let’s hold this conversation for when we can bring Sam into this conversation so he can speak for himself, or let’s reframe it.
• This sounds like personal information about Henna that we shouldn’t be talking about.

Words to the Wise in a Gossipy Workplace

Having friends in the workplace can be hugely beneficial for your well-being. And you need people to vent to (not gossip). But choose them wisely and be discerning. Tell them things little by little and see how they do. Let them build your trust. If someone seems a little untrustworthy or iffy, trust your gut. Don’t give away ammunition to just anyone. It’s valuable.

Hold onto your integrity. Remember your moral compass and stick to it. When you do, you’ll probably end each work day respecting yourself more and commanding more respect from your colleagues. 

Hire a career coach. It can help to have someone in your corner. If you are in a seriously toxic work environment, a career coach can help you strategize how to thrive in and influence your workplace culture, escape the gossip to move to a different company, or change career paths to better fit your values and goals. 

Find a career coach: International Association of Career Coaches. For many, it’s the best career decision they've ever made.

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