Politics Around the Water Cooler

In a polarized social and political climate, how do we prevent social and political vitriol from entering the sanctum of our workplace?

It goes without saying that the United States has become polarized along the lines of political and social allegiances these days. Since September 11th 2001 the world of relative security that we once took for granted has been shattered.  From then on we have been embroiled in a slow and protracted war in the Middle East that regularly spills over into our own borders.  Opinions about the motivations, methods and outcomes of dealing with this new world have become more polarized as time has dragged on.  The effects of September 11th have morphed to include all manner of social justice topics, police brutality, bullying and racial divisions just to name a few.

The more liberal perspectives look internally to say that US actions domestically and around the globe have caused the current state of the world we see today. Conservative pundits look externally and see an America that is at war with the religion of Islam and liberal conspirators who support it.  We have even come up with pet names for the opposing groups “Libtards” and “Trumptards”.

On both sides we are self-censoring our social media feeds by “blocking” friends and family who dare to express views that support views that contradict our own. As we continue to self-censor the information that we expose ourselves to, we will each find our own opinions becoming more polarized and often more volatile.  The net effect of this is that there is an ever growing social gap that is getting harder and harder to ignore.  We may even attribute certain personal and professional stereotypes to people once they are identified as belonging to one of the two socio-political camps.  These stereotypes may even lead us to make professional decisions based on socio-political bias. 

A liberal manager may be more keen to look for and act on hints of discrimination in an employee seen with a Trump bumper sticker. Whereas a more conservative manager may be less likely to hire a perspective liberal employee because they believe that they will sue the business as part of some baseless social justice law suit. 

As professionals and as leaders it is becoming increasingly important for us to remember that the vast majority of people fall much closer to the center of the socio-political spectrum than the news media would lead us to believe. True professionals and productive employees will be able to effectively separate their socio-political agendas from their professional lives.  Those few people who fall further out to the fringes of socio-political activism would be disruptive to the work place regardless of the political climate and must be dealt with based on their actions in the workplace.  The key is to address the actions of the individual as they effect their job performance and not your opinions about their socio-political beliefs.

For employees, the principle is simple, political activism has no place in the work place. If your socio-political commitment is so overpowering that you are compelled to bring those activities into the work place, then you should seek employment that is in line with your passion.