water cooler effect

• water-cooler effect, watercooler effect

water cooler effect (plural water cooler effects)

1. (business) The tendency of employees to gather informally around a water cooler in order to socialize and to share information.
   • 2007, Geilson Loureiro, Richard Curran, Complex Systems Concurrent Engineering, page 719:

     The water cooler effect represents a belief that conversations that develop in and around a water fountain, or in a cafeteria, significantly enable knowledge transfer, which indirectly contributes to positive work relationships [10].

   • 2013, Ben Waber, People Analytics:

     It's not hard to imagine that the water cooler effect will gradually fade in importance as workforces become more and more distributed and as technologies allow workers to collaborate more effectively across huge distances.

   • 2013, Alison Davis, Jane Shannon, Wayne Cascio, The Definitive Guide to HR Management Tools:

     The Water Cooler Effect: Why a Friendly Chat Is the Most Important Part of the Work Day […] The reason that water coolers are so important […] [is] that they create a nexus of social activity in the workplace.

   • 2017, Peter K. Ross, Susan Ressia, Elizabeth J. Sander, Work in the 21st Century: How Do I Log On?, page 32:

     From an organizational perspective, cyberslacking may also create positive externalities in terms of teleworkers being able to create virtual water cooler effects in terms of online chatting with affiliated and nonaffiliated workers.

   • 2023 July 10, James Poniewozik, “The Twitter Watch Party Is Over”, in The New York Times‎:

     The Super Bowl, the biggest TV show of the year, became a secular holiday gathering that rivals Christmas. And before the work-from-home era, networks were conscious of the “water-cooler effect” in offices.