TAMING THE INNER GOSSIP
When Sandy Piper was given her termination papers, she had one thought: "You've got to be kidding!"

But to the nine-member Hooksett, N.H., town council, her firing was no joke. Piper, the town's assessor, 59, along with three of her coworkers - Michelle Bonsteel, 55; Joanne Drewniak, 47; and Jessica Skorupski, 30 - were shown the door after a council vote in April, according to an ABC news story and other media reports. The reason? Gossiping.

"You could have cut my legs off and it would've been less painful," Bonsteel, the town's building code enforcement officer, told People Magazine. Added administrative assistant Drewniak: "They've ruined my life."

The women, now known as the "Hookset Four," were fired in part for discussing rumors of an alleged improper relationship between the town administrator and an employee. The rumor proved untrue, but the damage was done; the administrator, a happily married father, complained of "physical symptoms of stress" because of the gossip.

Since their firing, all four women have announced plans to sue.

The recent news stories about the Hookset Four have drawn national attention and spurred a debate in offices and among pundits across the country. One thing most experts agree about: gossip is a staple of the American business culture.

"Gossip is the tool of the poet, the shoptalk of the scientist and the consolation of the housewife, wit, tycoon and intellectual. It begins in the nursery and ends when speech is past," Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Phyllis McGinley once said. (Source: brainyquote.com)

Recent studies in both the U.S. and abroad back McGinley's assessment:

• An online survey in the New Hampshire Union Leader that immediately followed the Hookset Four firings found that 63 percent of the 488 respondents believed that workers shouldn't lose their jobs because they gossiped about their superiors. Twenty-nine percent of respondents were in favor of disciplining - not firing - the workers. Just 8 percent felt that pink slips were appropriate.

• Researchers at Queen's University in Belfast polled 1,000 workers from the U.S., UK, Australia, the Netherlands and Singapore. They found that an average 34 per cent of workers wasted time gossiping by email while at work.

• Despite stereotypes, gossip isn't a "woman thing," according to a report in the CanWest News Service. Long-term studies of U.S. teens, Pacific Islanders, and residents of rural Canada and Mexico -- as well as a 1,000-person anthropological survey of Britons -- have universally concluded that loose lips are a gender-neutral characteristic. Gossip consumes anywhere from a fifth to upwards of two-thirds of conversation time among both sexes.

Gossip may be ingrained in American culture - from the sandbox to the photocopy machine room. But, when it goes too far, it can be costly to everyone involved - it can even affect a company's bottom line.

For a victim of gossip, work can start to feel like a snake pit, a place where he or she is continually held up to ridicule. Understandably, the victim may decide to jump to another company just to escape the harassment.

But as the Hookset Four saga shows, gossiping can also damage a gossip's own career. Chatterboxes can find themselves ostracized or axed when they create such a hostile work environment that it affects turnover or their coworkers' ability to concentrate on their work.

So, while eliminating gossip entirely from the workplace may be an impractical goal, most workplace observers warn employees to avoid gossiping when they're on the clock. They also warn employers about looking the other way when gossip becomes toxic.

Gossip is like "mould in the basement," commented Michael Stern, president and chief executive officer of Toronto-based Michael Stern Associates Inc. in an online discussion in Globe and Mail Update about bad moves that can limit a career. "The damage caused by being linked to gossip continues to grow if left unchecked."

While most people wouldn't knowingly set out to hurt someone else, "sometimes one's better judgment takes a holiday," Stern added. So, here's some advice to potential mud-slingers:

• Remember that e-mails are not really private. Increasingly, companies are monitoring their employees' e-mails. Then there's always the possibility that whoever receives your e-mail may decide to pass it on.

• Don't believe rumors. Give the victim of rumors the benefit of the doubt. It's likely that by the time the rumor has reached your ears, it's been distorted in the telling.

• If you're tempted to talk about someone behind their back, try setting this standard for yourself: Would you say the same thing if your boss or the person you're talking about were standing right next to you?

• Keep in mind that whatever you say will likely be repeated to the victim of your gossip. Once a piece of "information" leaves your mouth, you no longer have any real control over how or to whom it gets passed.

Finally, if after gossiping, you're caught and confronted by your boss or by the victim of your gossip, don't lie about it. Lying will only further damage your reputation. Instead, acknowledge the harm you may have done, set the record straight about what you did or did not say, and apologize.