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In a world where political disagreements have ripped friendships, and even families asunder, it isn’t surprising similarly acrimonious debate also arises in the workplace. In fact, those verbal dustups between coworkers have apparently broken out enough that a majority of employees now say they don’t want to hear any discussion of politics while on job.
That was the main finding in the recently published “Navigating Politics in the Workplace” report by job posting site Monster. Its survey of 900 U.S. employees found 60 percent of respondents saying discussions about politics at work should be completely avoided. Another 68 percent said those exchanges left them feeling uncomfortable, despite 67 percent acknowledging they’d previously shared their political beliefs with coworkers. Yet 59 percent of participants said they thought having those exchanges while on the job risk negatively affecting their careers.
What’s more, 14 percent of respondents said they dreaded workplace discussion about politics so much they’d rather get a tooth drilled than join them. What’s next — ducking out of an office discussion about religion to have an appendix removed, without anesthesia?
In addition to the anger and accusations political exchanges can generate, there are other reasons why avoiding them at work may be wise. While 64 percent of respondents said they generally respect their coworkers’ political opinions, a third admitted they’ve formed negative views about colleagues after hearing them at the office.
That can’t be good — and those reactions aren’t always reserved for workplace peers, either. Just over half of survey participants said they’d consider quitting their job if their employer staked out political positions they disagreed with.
Inc.com columnist Alison Green has tracked the issue for years. She suggests people set conversational boundaries when political talk makes them uncomfortable, and taking the issue to management if it persists. It’s bad for company culture, whether it happens on the shop floor or the boardroom.
But whether those political differences are with bosses or coworkers, the bad feelings that often arise from them frequently undermine staff harmony and stability.
“These findings align with research from the Pew Research Center, which emphasizes that workplace culture significantly influences employee satisfaction and retention,” analysis of the Monster survey said. “Political discussions in the workplace can be sensitive and require careful handling to maintain a respectful and inclusive environment.”
But workplace managers should also be aware and respectful of what the survey said was the desire of most survey participants to keep political talk entirely out of the workplace. But in addition to that not always being the case, 67 percent of respondents said they’d actually been pressured to join discussions about politics on the job.
Of those that had, 40 percent of respondents said they’d felt that coercion during informal conversations with coworkers, 15 percent said it had occurred during meetings, and 11 percent reported it’d happened in discussion or reviews managers or supervisors. Sometimes the pressure came from outside the company, with 11 percent of survey participants saying they’d been dragged into political discussions with clients or vendors.
The widespread aversion to talking politics in the workplace comes at a particularly confusing and fraught time for companies and their employees. Both rules and attitudes are shifting rapidly in the public and private sectors alike.
For example, the Trump administration in July released guidelines ending longstanding federal practices intended to separate workplace affairs of church and state. Under those changes, public employees are now allowed to pray, display religious symbols, and even actively proselytize while at work, in sharp contrast to previous rules.
In the opposite direction, numerous private sector companies recently moved to punish or fire workers who’d posted celebratory message in response to the September murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on their personal social media accounts. That sparked debate about undermining freedom of speech — and taught some workers a painful lesson about the First Amendment not absolutely protecting speech in the workplace.
Those very high-profile developments over freedom of expression on the job may result in stronger efforts by people who’d rather avoid trouble or conflict by keeping politics out of the office altogether.
“Political and religious talk is not permitted in the workplace,” said RustyBrassInstrument in a post on social media platform Reddit about limiting political discussion at work — apparently expressing a personal preference rather than legal fact. “You can be political or religious on your own time.”
Not surprisingly, not everyone agrees.
“Hot take, making people uncomfortable is usually the only way to make change,” redditor lovable_cube said in response to a thread titled, “Keep your politics at home” about a coworker spouting unwanted political opinions. “We have something very broken right now, we need change.”
Monster drew other conclusions from the results of its survey. It suggested employers can find a productive balance between the extremes of banning talk about politics in the workplace, and letting debate flow unchecked in ways that risk sparking employee anger or higher quit rates.
“Organizations that force or encourage political alignment risk alienating employees and fostering judgment rather than collaboration,” it said. “Creating a culture where employees feel comfortable, but not pressured, to share personal beliefs is crucial. Encouraging open communication about work-related issues, while maintaining neutrality on political topics, can help maintain a respectful and productive workplace.”
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Bruce Crumley
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