Talking politics at work is a double-edged sword, Gallup survey finds

By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN

New York (CNN) — Love or hate politics, they may be hard to ignore this fall given how strongly many people feel on both sides of the aisle about the presidential race and key ballot issues, not to mention world events.

And going to work may not offer a respite.

Gallup on Thursday released a nationally representative survey that found nearly half of US workers (45%) in February said they had a discussion about political issues with a coworker in the past month.

And 38% said they had overheard such conversations.

Respondents who worked in industries with a plurality of self-identified conservative employees (60%) were more likely to report talking politics at work than respondents in industries with more liberal-leaning employees (48%). And men (54%) were more likely to report having political conversations on the job than women (35%).

But not everyone reported feeling comfortable with those discussions. Fourteen percent said such conversations helped them feel included, and 11% said the political exchanges even made them feel closer to their coworker. But 12% reported feeling uncomfortable, and 3% said they felt they were treated unfairly for their views.

Engaged workers were much less likely than disengaged workers to say they felt uncomfortable. “This suggests employee engagement may have a buffering effect on political discussions, increasing the chance that employees give trusted coworkers the benefit of the doubt during political discussions, even if they disagree. Likewise, they may feel safe expressing contrary opinions of their own,” Gallup said in a write-up of its findings.

While the survey doesn’t report on the comfort levels expressed by the 38% of respondents who said they have been in earshot of such exchanges, Gallup suggested it may have been mixed, citing research published earlier this year in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

“(That research) found that the costs of hearing political conversations could include impeded goal progress and lower job satisfaction for employees who perceive themselves as having dissimilar perspectives, while the benefits could include a more positive mindset from overhearing conversations they agree with,” they wrote.

Guard against unspoken pitfalls

Given how fervently people feel about so, so many things this election season, workplace experts advise leaders and employees to tread cautiously so that any discussions about lightning rod issues don’t derail employees’ ability to work well together.

That includes leaders making clear the boundaries for exchanges, said Christy Pruitt-Haynes, global head of the talent practice at the NeuroLeadership Institute. For example, she suggested, they might say, “Everyone is entitled to their opinion — but we won’t tolerate personal attacks, verbal or physical; or talking down to someone if their opinion is different.”

And any executive setting the guardrails should also abide by them. Ideally, private-sector leaders should try not to give any hint of their views on contentious issues, said HR consultant Cindy O’Peka, who works primarily with small and mid-size employers. “It could create an us/them mentality at work. It’s not a good team-building environment.”

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