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Marc Delhaie, Iron Mountain France: What’s your information risk policy for the staff canteen?
September 2013 by Marc Delhaie, Président-Directeur Général d’Iron Mountain France
Today companies generate untold volumes of information: HR records, business emails, invoices, customer records, even the company Facebook page and Twitter account all constitute ‘information’. Most organisations appreciate that this information needs to be managed, protected and, where and when required, destroyed securely. A group of co-workers standing around the coffee machine chatting about colleagues, customers, financial performance or an anticipated company announcement are also sharing ‘information’; only in this context it’s labeled ‘gossip’ and most companies fail to manage it at all. Let’s ask the obvious question: should they even try?
The term ‘gossip’ is universally regarded as derogatory. Since the most interesting stories are invariably those involving bad news and people we know or have heard of, the association is not entirely undeserved. You can, however, define gossip as Wikipedia does, for example, as one of the oldest and most common means of sharing facts, views and slander. It is revealing that only one of these defining terms is overtly negative, while the sharing of facts and views is often considered positive and useful.
Gossip and the company grapevine are undeniable facts of daily office life for the majority of workplaces. A recent survey of more than 600,000 emails sent between employees (at all levels of seniority) at one global firm found that over one in seven contained office gossip, regardless of the actual topic under discussion . The fact that this survey could even be undertaken highlights an important point: where gossip is contained within a communication regarded as a company record, it could endure forever.
Office gossip, of course, can be unfounded, malicious or defamatory. At a personal level, it can be spiteful enough to damage or even destroy reputations. At a corporate level, sharing information through informal channels could result in the exposure of confidential or sensitive information that could leave the firm vulnerable to legal action and could lead to disciplinary action for the employee found sharing the information.
We recently conducted a study among European office workers that found a rather worrying correlation between access to information and a willingness to share it. The study showed that a third of Europe’s office workers (35 per cent) regularly share confidential information about their organisation with colleagues, with a quarter passing on secrets about other members of staff. Worryingly, at least from my perspective, these figures rise to 43 and 38 per cent for those in human resources. Senior staff and those in the legal and finance departments are also, it would appear, prone to divulging confidential company information, while personal assistants jump up to third place in the office scale of indiscretion when it comes to divulging details of the private lives of colleagues. Companies clearly need to encourage those with the most privileged access to sensitive information to demonstrate the highest standards of discretion.
On the other hand, office gossip, for want of a better term, can be a positive channel for sharing company information in an informal way that is unthreatening and allows employees to express and share concerns they may be reluctant to voice through formal channels. Recent studies in the US and the Netherlands have shown that gossip can lower workplace stress and help reduce bad or unethical behaviour by colleagues. Seen this way, coffee-room chat helps define the ethical code employees create for themselves and helps shape corporate culture. It can also improve productivity and morale by helping colleagues to bond and build friendships .
Most of us are social beings. We have a genuine personal interest in our fellow workers. We care about how others are behaving. This helps create a sense of community, loyalty and shared values. Taking this one step further, employees who are well-informed and loyal to their organisation and their colleagues often make the best external ambassadors for their firm. The 2013 Edelman Global Trust Barometer reveals that low-to-middle-ranking employees who talk about the business are more trusted by external audiences than the company chief executives.
The truth is that in today’s fast moving information world, what seems private, casual and ephemeral is increasingly public and permanent. This is a lesson many firms are currently learning about social media, and office gossip is no exception.
Responsible information handling may seem a world away from water-cooler or coffee-room chat. Yet information management is as much about embedding a culture of respect and data protection across the business as it is about effective management and secure storage of paper documents and digital data. It’s about recognising employees’ rights to privacy just as much as holding customer information secure. It’s about understanding and connecting with the complex social fabric of your firm and ensuring anxious employees have someone to turn to with their concerns. What is or isn’t appropriate behaviour when interacting informally with or discussing colleagues should be guided by a clear code of ethics. Firms would be well advised to establish an employee hotline to allow issues to be raised in confidence and advice on appropriate behaviour provided where required.
You can’t stop people talking, and nor should you try; but you can and should stop people from hurting each other and the business. The concept of gossip has been with us since the 14th century, so the chances are it’s here to stay. But in an age defined by easy access to and the rapid exchange of information, it just might be time for firms to think more about how they deal with it.
