A Gossip-Free Workplace

When you read the headline of this article I bet you thought, “Really??? How is that possible?” The good news is, not only is it possible, some companies mandate it as a condition of employment. At PrintingforLess.com, based in Livingston, Montana, every employee is required to sign the company’s “Agreement to Values” policy, which stipulates that gossiping, back-stabbing, and talking behind someone’s back will not be tolerated.

According to Shayla McKnight, a 10 year employee and current marketing manager at the firm, the company puts their money where their mouth is:

“If employees do violate the company policy, a manager speaks to them, and if they don’t stop, they’re let go. It has happened….It appears to me that everyone has bought into the mindset. If we ever sense that someone might be gossiping, we call that person out and say, ‘You need to go to the source if you have a question.’….we all know what’s expected, and we hold one another accountable. We count on everyone being aboveboard, and we encourage people to confront one another….We respect each other’s privacy here….I was expecting my first child and in my sixth or seventh month when I passed a colleague in the hall whom I see every day. He glanced at my belly and asked if I was pregnant. ‘Ya think?’ I joked. He had no idea. My colleagues hadn’t spread the word.”