HR Answers: 5 tips to handle political talk in the online workplace
While water cooler chats may have morphed into Zoom meet-and-greets, that doesn’t mean tempers won’t flare over current events. Here’s how to help maintain harmony.
If you thought the last four years were difficult trying to keep politics out of the workplace, get ready for the next month. The race to the November election is heating up, and you can bet that discussions about politics will bleed into the workplace—including online, if your employees are still working remotely.
Even if you manage to successfully avoid those dreaded political discussions with your colleagues, the election may very well still come up with members and vendors.
Discussions about politics in the workplace have proven to reduce productivity, decrease quality, increase negative feelings among coworkers, add to job stress and generally make employees dread coming to work. In short, talking politics at work equals a toxic work environment. If you think you’re safe because you don’t see people face-to-face right now and are working from home, think again.
Here are five ways you can keep political talk (and tempers) in check at work during this home stretch of the election season.
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