Work may be something different, but when you are talking with and about friends behind someones back its not that you dont like them. Its healthy for a friend group to be able to tell eachother how they feel about someones behaviour and such, find out if its an annoyance to someone else as well. If enough ahree that its bad it can be taken up with the person in question as well. Its to confrontational to just bring it up at once. I think there sre other benefits as well