How to Manage Political Conversation in the Workplace: Election Season

Employees spend a significant portion of their waking hours with their workplace colleagues, and conversations naturally arise about different current events. When faced with potentially fractious conversations, such as the upcoming election, however, you want to protect your workplace. Having a policy for addressing political conversations that can help you avoid conflict and ensure that your workplace remains a respectful work environment for all is critical.

Debates that turn into arguments and even personal attacks can cause tremendous discord within teams and can lead to overall negative feelings throughout the business. Here’s how you can address these issues in your workplace.

Why Political Conversations Can Be Challenging at Work

Political topics can be extremely divisive and this has only become more accentuated in recent elections. These topics, therefore, can create significant tension between coworkers. What starts out as a seemingly harmless discussion can quickly become a full-blown argument and can even draw other people into the fight or cause lasting hard feelings between participants.

When these types of debates rage out of control, it can lower productivity and morale as people struggle to make amends and work together effectively.

Legal and Compliance Considerations for Employers

Employers and their human resources departments must be very careful as they approach political discussions and regulations. People can become agitated if they think their free speech rights are being curtailed. However, businesses can regulate speech in their establishments to some degree, so long as their policies do not conflict with Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, Title VII, or any local laws. Section 7 focuses on the rights of employees to form groups and organize to protect their rights, while Title VII prohibits employment discrimination.

Strategies for Managing Political Conversations

Once you understand the potential pitfalls you need to avoid in legal and compliance, you can start drafting the guidelines you want to have in place for the upcoming political season. We recommend the following strategies:

Set Clear Boundaries

Create policies that discourage employees from engaging in political discussions during work hours. Ensure these rules apply to all types of politics and are enforced for all employees, regardless of their political persuasion.

Focus on Respect and Inclusivity

Nurture within your organization an overall environment where people know their opinions are respected and that differences of opinion are handled with care. To encourage this atmosphere, respect should be a part of all conversations, even about routine work topics.

Encourage Non-Partisan Activities

Provide ample opportunities for your employees to feel connected and to actively contribute to their communities without dipping into politics. Providing volunteering opportunities and team-building events can help foster a healthy internal culture.

Provide Training

Equip your employees with the tools they need to resolve conflicts successfully and navigate difficult conversations. Ensure this encourages sensitivity training so all employees can practice empathy and understanding and treat their coworkers better, even if a disagreement arises.

Addressing Workplace Tensions Before They Escalate

When a hotly contested election occurs, you know that the news will run with the latest updates around the clock. This means your employees will be steeped in this fiery environment, even with your attempts to dissuade them from discussing politics in the workplace. Therefore, you need a system to address any rising tensions and help defuse potentially hot situations before they escalate.

You will want to have some proactive measures in place. For example, you might offer options for employees to report grievances related to political discussions anonymously. This can alert you to the situation and look for ways to reiterate the importance of leaving politics at the door.

Working with your managers will also help. Provide them with training to recognize warning signs of growing potential conflict between coworkers and intervene early on to ensure that the argument does not spread or escalate. The manager should have some techniques ready to defuse the situation.

Finally, you can enact open-door policies across the workplace so employees have a safe environment to voice concerns. These discussions can help you keep your fingers on the pulse of the employee culture so you can intervene before these disagreements cause lasting impacts on your business.

How to Foster a Politically Neutral Workplace Culture

Finally, in addition to these strategies for managing disagreements, you want to make your workplace a politically neutral space proactively. This means respecting all political views while refusing to endorse a particular side. This becomes particularly important when addressing issues between co-workers. If two people are disciplined for opposing sides in a growing political debate, one should not receive their reprimand with a smile and a wink.

Instead of focusing on politics, emphasize shared goals as a company and your professional values as an organization. This should give people across the political spectrum a common footing that helps to prevent any growing divisiveness.

The Importance of a Peaceful and Respectful Work Environment

Creating a calm and peaceful culture can quickly become challenging in the face of contested elections. With so many debates in the wider culture becoming personal arguments, the disruptions this would cause to the workplace would be significant.

Fortunately, proactive steps to discourage political discussions in the workplace and encourage a common culture can go a long way toward keeping the work environment peaceful and cohesive. Employers play a significant role in this process, as they help to create a culture of mutual respect and establish guidelines to help protect the company's atmosphere.

Consider how the ideas above can help influence company policies and encourage a productive and balanced work environment throughout the upcoming elections.

Those interested in additional HR support or guidance on handling political conversations in the workplace should contact us at Exact Payroll. Our HR services can help companies today uncover the tools they need to promote an overall peaceful election season at work.