Dear Seniors,
I am Dinesh, working as an HR Executive of a small organization. In my company, I am the only HR, so I need to take care of all activities in my company. My problem is it is so difficult to control the employees' chit-chats during office hours. Everybody is used to talking more; they are not concentrating on their work properly. Kindly give me a solution on how to handle this problem and also how to make them interested in their work.
Thank you.
From India, Chennai
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2I am Dinesh, working as an HR Executive of a small organization. In my company, I am the only HR, so I need to take care of all activities in my company. My problem is it is so difficult to control the employees' chit-chats during office hours. Everybody is used to talking more; they are not concentrating on their work properly. Kindly give me a solution on how to handle this problem and also how to make them interested in their work.
Thank you.
From India, Chennai
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A policy to address breaks and work hours as well as a policy to monitor employee productivity and efficiency
From India, Mumbai
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From India, Mumbai
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Dear Dinesh,
Employees chat because that is how culture is formed in the company. They chat because they have time to do so. This free time suggests that they may not have enough work to keep them occupied. I recommend conducting a workload analysis and setting stringent targets for them.
Wasting time on unnecessary activities is a common issue. Similar posts have been made in the past. You can refer to the following links to read my previous responses:
- https://www.citehr.com/494456-please...ml#post2150638
- https://www.citehr.com/469565-person...ml#post2084819
- https://www.citehr.com/434413-how-in...ml#post1968017
All the best!
Dinesh V Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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Employees chat because that is how culture is formed in the company. They chat because they have time to do so. This free time suggests that they may not have enough work to keep them occupied. I recommend conducting a workload analysis and setting stringent targets for them.
Wasting time on unnecessary activities is a common issue. Similar posts have been made in the past. You can refer to the following links to read my previous responses:
- https://www.citehr.com/494456-please...ml#post2150638
- https://www.citehr.com/469565-person...ml#post2084819
- https://www.citehr.com/434413-how-in...ml#post1968017
All the best!
Dinesh V Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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Dear Dinesh,
Let the superiors of those individual employees be responsible to improve the attitude of those employees.
Secondly, if the employees are meeting their daily work targets, then let them continue with chit-chatting. The only thing is that they should follow certain discipline while doing so.
If, as per workload, the number of employees is more, the company should do away with some of them. Generally, in smaller companies, such things happen because there are informal relations among the employees. Only ensure that the company's performance is not affected due to such practices.
Satish Akut
From India, Pune
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Let the superiors of those individual employees be responsible to improve the attitude of those employees.
Secondly, if the employees are meeting their daily work targets, then let them continue with chit-chatting. The only thing is that they should follow certain discipline while doing so.
If, as per workload, the number of employees is more, the company should do away with some of them. Generally, in smaller companies, such things happen because there are informal relations among the employees. Only ensure that the company's performance is not affected due to such practices.
Satish Akut
From India, Pune
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Go and talk to the employee whom you are talking to more. There will be one or more persons who, due to them, the whole office will be a mess. So inform them nicely with soft words about what happens by chatting with each other, and tell them to talk only when necessary, meaning related to the job. Do this two or three times. If they are not listening, send a personal email in a way that touches their heart, and do not include anyone in CC. Repeat this step 2-3 times. If there is still no change, send a strong warning email to everyone and include your boss in CC. Maybe it will work out.
From India, Bangalore
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From India, Bangalore
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Workplace is not a school where chit-chat is totally banned. In workplaces, there may be discussions during free time. Analyze the performance as suggested by Dinesh Divekar and come to a conclusion.
Pon
From India, Lucknow
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Pon
From India, Lucknow
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Dear Dinesh,
Here it is a question of discipline. A casual attitude towards work. Not fully engaged. Overstaffing. Absence of work monitoring. Informal atmosphere. A superior who takes this easy. They have not been made aware of the consequences of this attitude. Many more reasons can be thought about.
Since it is a regular practice, you have to create a change. Talk to your superiors about this and get their suggestions too. This habit that has been formed over a period of time can be changed only by slowly taking measures to tighten discipline, checking on staff productivity, and keeping only adequate staff to do the job after conducting a work measurement study.
This habit is a contagious one, and the earlier you curb it, the less difficult it becomes. Take this issue as you see the bigger picture of bringing discipline to the entire office functioning through professional training in general office etiquette.
All the best.
JBT
From India, Kottayam
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Here it is a question of discipline. A casual attitude towards work. Not fully engaged. Overstaffing. Absence of work monitoring. Informal atmosphere. A superior who takes this easy. They have not been made aware of the consequences of this attitude. Many more reasons can be thought about.
Since it is a regular practice, you have to create a change. Talk to your superiors about this and get their suggestions too. This habit that has been formed over a period of time can be changed only by slowly taking measures to tighten discipline, checking on staff productivity, and keeping only adequate staff to do the job after conducting a work measurement study.
This habit is a contagious one, and the earlier you curb it, the less difficult it becomes. Take this issue as you see the bigger picture of bringing discipline to the entire office functioning through professional training in general office etiquette.
All the best.
JBT
From India, Kottayam
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Hello Dinesh,
Many suggestions have poured in. Hope you are taking the necessary steps to prevent unnecessary gossip and chit-chat. If more time is lost in chit-chat, how is your company performing? Any company will always have scope to improve at any given time. With the support from top management, address your staff as to how they can perform better. If all the people have more time at their disposal, then it is an overstaffed scenario. As an HR executive, make a study and give a confidential report to the Apex management. An occasional laughter is, in fact, good to counter the monotony of work.
V. Raghunathan
From India
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Many suggestions have poured in. Hope you are taking the necessary steps to prevent unnecessary gossip and chit-chat. If more time is lost in chit-chat, how is your company performing? Any company will always have scope to improve at any given time. With the support from top management, address your staff as to how they can perform better. If all the people have more time at their disposal, then it is an overstaffed scenario. As an HR executive, make a study and give a confidential report to the Apex management. An occasional laughter is, in fact, good to counter the monotony of work.
V. Raghunathan
From India
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It appears Dinesh that maybe you are reacting to a particular thread of gossip, rather than chitchatting that employees do as a whole.
All organizations are both political and social constructs. Interactions will be there, sometimes extending a little too much. Chitchatting, as long as it is not malicious gossiping, does more good than bad. It connects people and forms good relationships.
And truly there is no short answer to get people interested in their work. That is a research of a lifetime. Good employees do not concentrate; they focus.
From India, Delhi
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All organizations are both political and social constructs. Interactions will be there, sometimes extending a little too much. Chitchatting, as long as it is not malicious gossiping, does more good than bad. It connects people and forms good relationships.
And truly there is no short answer to get people interested in their work. That is a research of a lifetime. Good employees do not concentrate; they focus.
From India, Delhi
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Hi Dinesh,
How about considering this chit-chat as a plus? Yes, beyond a limit, anything is bad.
How about considering some activities, like brainstorming, (to solve some of the organization's issues) to "feed the intellectual hunger" of your colleagues?
As you are a small organization, it may not be feasible to go for an external trainer. How about you conducting such activities... (I can sense a lot of energy in your post). If you feel that you are not equipped, as of now, you can equip yourself as an HR pro to conduct such activities. Nowadays, you have a lot of material available on sites like HR forums (which was not there when I started).
If one hour is not permitted, you can even have activities for a half-hour... maybe after lunch.
Still, if you need any practical help, you can send your query as an email or call for a few minutes over the phone. (I have handled this type of issue without any action.)
"Action" from our end should be the last resort, and this is my personal credo.
Regards,
J. Srinivasan
jsrinivasan@hayakawa.in
9445636855
DGM-Trg,
S&N Hayakawa Enterprises Pvt Ltd.
From India, Bangalore
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How about considering this chit-chat as a plus? Yes, beyond a limit, anything is bad.
How about considering some activities, like brainstorming, (to solve some of the organization's issues) to "feed the intellectual hunger" of your colleagues?
As you are a small organization, it may not be feasible to go for an external trainer. How about you conducting such activities... (I can sense a lot of energy in your post). If you feel that you are not equipped, as of now, you can equip yourself as an HR pro to conduct such activities. Nowadays, you have a lot of material available on sites like HR forums (which was not there when I started).
If one hour is not permitted, you can even have activities for a half-hour... maybe after lunch.
Still, if you need any practical help, you can send your query as an email or call for a few minutes over the phone. (I have handled this type of issue without any action.)
"Action" from our end should be the last resort, and this is my personal credo.
Regards,
J. Srinivasan
jsrinivasan@hayakawa.in
9445636855
DGM-Trg,
S&N Hayakawa Enterprises Pvt Ltd.
From India, Bangalore
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