Love it or hate it, small talk plays a significant role in our lives, making up a whopping one-third of adult communication. Small talk is also a relationship builder—it helps establish rapport and can expedite deeper conversations between individuals.
Despite its prevalence, management research has largely overlooked small talk’s role in the workplace. But research published in 2020 found that small talk has positive and negative effects in the office. On one hand, it can increase employee well-being and promote workplace citizenship, but it also distracts from completing tasks, hurting productivity.
