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.

“Lack of close connection with coworkers and leaders . . . and less psychological safety created by a strong culture, sense of belonging, and clarity about the people and the processes in your organization can breed more suspicion, uncertainty, ambiguity, and other questions,” she says.

Part of the problem is that there isn’t a single gossip narrative, says Anthony Wheeler, professor of management and Dean of Widener University’s School of Business Administration.

“As office cultures weaken, more subcultures form,” he says. “More sub-cultures mean more communication channels. More communication channels mean communication fragments. This all leads to more gossip or rumors that have their own narratives.”

Gossip can also be fueled by assumptions, which are more prevalent when teams are distributed, adds Bryan Stallings, chief evangelist of Lucid Software, an online visual collaboration platform. “For example, body language might be fully missing from our conversations,” he says. “At a lot of organizations, people don’t turn on their camera [during a video meeting]. We try to fill the void from what we hear to what we think is going on.”

WHAT MANAGERS CAN’T DO

It would be naïve for managers to think they can reduce or eliminate gossip; in fact, it would be highly detrimental to even try, says Jason Morgan, Ph.D. vice president of behavioral intelligence at Aware, a collaboration platform.

“Gossip is an important part of human communication, fostering organizational and social cohesion,” he says. “Prohibiting gossip or other forms of apparent non-professional communication would only alienate employees, increase turnover, and reduce productivity.”

Stallings agrees: “Gossip is a mechanism that we use to soothe our anxiety, sometimes,” he says. “Other times, it’s a way to bid for connection and build relationships. It helps stave off loneliness and boredom. It can also be a form of entertainment. I think that’s probably why we see it continue at a greater pace in a hybrid work environment.”

WHAT MANAGERS CAN DO

Just because you can’t stop gossip doesn’t mean you should ignore it. Negative gossip can negatively impact employee performance, says Stallings. “We start to feel less a sense of wellbeing about our work and maybe a little bit more cynicism towards the organization,” he says. “In the worst case, you could see workplace deviance behaviors, where people are actually damaging the organization.”

Morgan suggests that organizations focus on reducing harmful sorts of communication like harassment and bullying, which is often easier to uncover on digital platforms. Harassment and bullying have clear, negative effects on workplace culture and, ultimately, the bottom line.

In addition, managers should work strengthening relationships between team members. “When we got into meetings online, we’re just thrown right at the agenda,” says Stallings. “There’s really warming up of the room like we used to before the meeting started. We practice something we call ‘connection before content.’ As a group, create a place where it’s possible to have that banter and conversation and build those relationships.”

But don’t rely solely on meetings. In a hybrid world, managers have fewer employee touch points than before, says Wheeler. “This means that managers now must figure out ways to reestablish communication channels, even informal channels, with as many employees as possible,” he says. “For managers to correct or change any gossip-based narratives, they must engage in overlapping communication strategies.”

For example, Wheeler suggests holding regular one-on-one Zoom check-ins with employees and town hall meetings with the entire staff. “The key is to practice open, transparent communication,” he says. “One size will not fit all.”

Stallings says his team has a retrospective meeting every two weeks, talking about how things went, improvements that could be made, and action items to tackle. “As the team gets comfortable in that conversation, some of the stinky fish start to show up,” he says. “With effective facilitation, those conversations can wipe the slate clean, and we start off with another two weeks.”

While they can’t end gossip, managers can foster healthy cultures in their hybrid and remote work teams by fostering intentional communication. Transparency and safety ultimately builds trust among teams and teammates.