{"id":4612,"date":"2025-05-08T19:23:18","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T19:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=4612"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:41:43","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:41:43","slug":"the-pros-of-small-talk-at-work-outweigh-the-cons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/the-pros-of-small-talk-at-work-outweigh-the-cons\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pros of Small Talk at Work Outweigh the Cons"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher <\/a><\/p>\r\n

While there is some evidence that employees who go overboard making small talk can be less productive, occasional nonwork chats with colleagues can boost workers\u2019 sense of well-being, belonging, loyalty to their organization. It also improves teamwork.<\/p>\r\n

Academy of Management Scholar Jessica Methot<\/a> of Rutgers University and the University of Exeter\u2014who cowrote an Academy of Management Journal article <\/a><\/em> on that topic with Emily Rosado-Solomon<\/a> of Babson College, Patrick Downes<\/a> of the University of Kansas, and Allison Gabriel<\/a> of Purdue University\u2014said that they found that small talk increases employees\u2019 morale and improves bonding and collaboration.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cSmall talk eases transitions\u2014we rarely begin a meeting or pop into someone else\u2019s office without a little small talk, just to grease the wheels and ease into the work-related conversation, and it helps us move from one activity to another,\u201d Methot said. \u201cWe have small talk before meetings, interviews, performance evaluation, sales pitches, and negotiations.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt is this social ritual that helps us transition from one activity to another and sets the stage for building relationships,\u201d she said. \u201cAt a very basic level, it simply shows that we recognize someone else\u2019s presence\u2014it\u2019s an acknowledgement.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt makes us feel better when someone waves to us and smiles or says hello or chats with us, and so it sets a positive tone to a relationship, and as we continue to do that over time with colleagues, we start to build a stronger sense of trust and potentially things like friendships.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Why does small talk have these effects?<\/p>\r\n

Methot and her coauthors found that on days people made more small talk than they normally would, they experienced a boost in mood and positive energy, which, in turn, increased their positive social behaviors.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cSmall talk boosted the extent to which they went out of their way to help their colleagues, and it increased their well-being,\u201d Methot said.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt had these great positive spillover effects where just simply having more small talk than they normally would on a given day really elevated their affect, their energy, and the extent to which they were willing to go out of their way for their coworkers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\r\n

Small talk, however, does have downsides, at least from a boss\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cOn the other hand, we found it was distracting, so it wasn’t all positive,\u201d Methot said. \u201cIf someone you know comes into your office and starts chatting with you while you\u2019re really in the flow and you were focused on doing your work, it pulls your attention away from that.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAnd so, it does create this sense of a time famine where people who engage in too much small talk might not have enough time to then finish all of their work, which can create a little bit of anxiety,\u201d she said. \u201cBut for the most part, it is really positive.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n

A sample of Methot\u2019s AOM research findings:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n