If you’ve been on the highway in the past five years, you know that people are passionate about their political beliefs and they’re happy to put them on display. But what happens when such a divisive subject makes its way into the workplace?
Here’s Five Fast Facts About Politics in the Workplace:
- 🇺🇸 Perspectives - Turns out 26% of Americans talk politics at least 15 minutes a week in the workplace. But only 42% of employees have had what they consider a “political disagreement.” Another 12% of workers feel they’ve experienced bias because of their political affiliation.
- 🥊 Dangerous - Research shows political discussions can result in a hostile environment where employees can wind up holding grudges against their co-workers. Shocker, right?
- 🛡️ Not Protective - The boss can step in to help with these problems. In fact, private companies actually have the right to limit political expression during normal work hours and on work premises. The First Amendment does not apply.
- 🪝 Hol’ Up - There’s often no way to change anyone’s mind in a political argument, no matter how much you feel you are right. A diplomatic way to hit the brakes is to simply change the subject. Talk about a work task or ask the person a question about a different work-related topic.
- ✋ No Thanks - Another helpful tactic is to kindly tell your co-worker that you don’t want to talk politics at work. If you do it as professionally as possible, most reasonable people will respect that.
🔥Bottom line: If you’re in an office, you’re trapped with your co-workers for at least eight hours a day. It’s probably smart to get along with them, even if you disagree with their opinions. You may think you need to win that argument or show someone they’re wrong, but in the grand scheme of things your politics don’t help much at work.
Have you been involved in a political discussion at work? How did it go?
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