We are consistently taught that a healthy workplace culture is characterized by diversity, transparency, and openness, but what happens when these indicators of wellbeing seemingly lead to tension among individuals with differing political views? Why is it that as our society expects employers to honor individuality and freedom of expression, we continue to experience political polarization and hostility at work? Have we become too open about our differing views, or have we missed something else entirely? The short answer to the problem we face is respect, but as you could imagine, respect is not easy to regulate. With this in mind, and given the upcoming political season, we decided to discuss best practices for handling political discussions in the workplace.
Researchers, Dawn Chow and Jeffrey Lees, share their findings in the Harvard Business Review article, “3 Strategies to Address Political Polarization in the Workplace.” They explain that “people often overestimate the level of disagreement between themselves and members of opposing political groups, the prevalence of extreme beliefs among those groups, and the extent to which those people view them negatively.” This is an effect that Chow and Lees refer to as “false polarization bias.” According to the article, false polarization bias leads to increased employee turnover, hostility between coworkers, and employees feeling the need to hide their beliefs from others. That said, there are ways to reduce these problems. Dawn and Lees write, “When researchers simply informed participants that they overestimated the extent to which people from opposing political groups disliked them, this in turn reduced participants’ dislike and mistrust of those people.” In other words, knowing more about the mindsets of people with opposing views helped to reduce animosity.
With the above in mind, it would be logical to assume that what we actually need is more opportunities for coworkers with opposing views to be open with one another, but doing so comes with its own set of limitations. The Trupp HR article, “How to handle political conversations in the workplace” states, “Studies show there was an increase in the number of people openly discussing politics at work following the 2016 election, and while having employees feel comfortable being open at work is a sign of a healthy culture, politics can be very divisive.” Similarly, the SHRM article, “How Should HR Handle Political Discussions at Work?” by Susan Milligan states, “It is not a good idea for HR to crack down on employee conversation, since diversity of thought can be a key ingredient to fostering workplace creativity and new ideas, experts say. But a line can get crossed when what one person sees as political expression is interpreted as harassment or insults by a colleague.”
While there is no one size fits all solution to political discussions in the workplace, it is a good idea for companies to put their own practical boundaries into place. Before creating official guidelines, it is important to identify any legal protections that may apply to your workplace. For example, the Trupp HR article explains, “Private sector employees have limited First Amendment rights in the workplace, and their freedom of speech may be restricted significantly. Employees who work in the public sector, for governmental entities, have greater First Amendment speech protections unless statements are made in relation to the individual’s duties as an employee rather than as a private citizen.” Some states and local jurisdictions also have laws that protect political expression, so it is important to be thorough in your research.
Instead of creating a flat out ban on political discussion, companies should focus on promoting productivity and respectful interactions. The Trupp HR article states, “Even protected speech can be restricted to break and meal periods if it is infringing on your employee’s ability to get their work done.”
Furthermore, companies have an obligation to promote respect and can even face legal consequences when failure to do so results in harassment. In the SHRM article discussed above, labor and employment attorney, Jennifer Rodriguez, of Culhane Meadows suggests including the following statement in your workplace policies: “‘Language that’s harassing or negatively impacts working relationships will not be tolerated.’”
It is inevitable that employees will have differing political views, and it is more likely than not that these views will be brought up in the workplace from time to time. Thankfully, research shows that learning about other’s views can actually reduce hostility if this is done in a productive manner. Creating thoughtful policies that promote workplace productivity and prohibit all forms of harassment without banning all forms of political expression can go a long way in maintaining your organization’s wellbeing.