Add another benefit to working from home: With fewer serendipitous watercooler conversations, a fully remote team may slow down office gossip, says Sara J. Perry, professor of management at Baylor University.
“You would have to reach out more intentionally to people to get the informal news of the information, which is less likely to happen in remote work,” she says.
But if your workplace offers hybrid working arrangements with people cycling in and out of the office on different days, the dynamic could change. Perry says people who see each other in the office may form closer relationships and have more conversations that include gossip, creating an “in” group versus “out” group mentality—and false assumptions about those who are seen in-person less often.
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