Politics at work
RuthG
117 Posts
Some of our employees are getting pretty heated and vocal about presidential politics at work. Should we try to tone this down or let them rant?
Comments
I have alwasys said there are certain things that should not be discussed at work and politics is one of them. Invariably it leads to a pretty heated debate. If this is happening I would try to shut it down. I have seen situations where discussions like this have lead to lost productivity and hurt business relationships because now the people that were involved in the debate don't want to work together. The thoughts about the other person's political views gets in the way of doing their job.
If they're getting their jobs done, why get involved?
Caveats: if they're getting into race or religion in politics, both topics with which this race is charged, I'd quash that discussion. Additionally, if they are government employees, they actually do have some freedom of speech but I'm not familliar with the details as I have never worked in the public sector.
[quote user="NYGiants"]I agree - unless the conversation crosses the line to discrimination or harassment, leave it alone. I think it is healthy for co-workers to discuss current events and challenge eachother a little when they differ. It helps them resolve their differences, or at least learn to respect them.[/quote]
As long as it's not dysfunctional, you could think of it as team building. Of course, you can't be in on every conversation and that is really the root of the problem. If the topic were about Hamilton vs. Jefferson, would you be considering whether or not to get involved? What if it were about favorite hunting rifles or Starbucks vs. Seattle's Best vs. Pete's?
I try to leave as much of this type of thing to the direct supervisor as possible and not get involved if it's not a problem or not clearly leading to one.
I think I would take a "middle of the road" approach. As management, I would want to let the employees know that you are not trying to sterilize the workplace of all non-work related talk, but that their discussions must be kept on a professional level. Any employee who cannot discuss politics without becoming "heated" or disrupting the work of others who are not taking a part of the discussion will asked to refrain from future conversations.
In other words, let the employees talk. But don't allow the discussions to get so heated that it disrupts the workplace.
Hey, sounds good. But how are you going to monitor for "heated" discussions?
I say, just hope for the best and tell managers to emphasize that political discussion cannot affect productivity or good relations among coworkers.
In our office, I can easily monitor for "heated" discussions. If I can hear it in my office, it is above the normal level. If it leaves people angry and they come to me, the discussion was "heated".
But mainly, I was addressing the original question which asked should the heated discussions be allowed to continue. Since the original poster had determined what "heated" meant in that office, then it can be monitored.
[quote user="Eva Augusto"]Certainly every citizen has the right to voice their opinion on the subject of politics. However, these discussions should be kept at a minimum and saved for topics of conversation during lunch an break hours.[/quote]
Yes and no. More specifically, yes in some general sense of what's right and what matches typical values of US citizens as I understand them but no, not really in the work place. Private sector employees (except in limited circumstances, typically related to government contracts or criminal activity) have no freedom of speech. You can require your employees to chant "I support a national right to free toilet paper from the federal government" 3 times before entering any bathroom in the building and fire them for insubordination if they do not. You can require your employees never to utter the phrase "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy cow" or the word "purple" and fire them if they do. They'll probably win on a UI claim but that wont get their job back.