Politics in the Workplace: How Can Managers Keep the Peace?

In an age of increased polarization in which political ideology and identity have become intertwined, workplace political discussions may be more common, but they can have detrimental outcomes. At Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange company, the hesitancy of CEO Brian Armstrong to make a public announcement in support of Black Lives Matter following the death of George Floyd resulted in employee walkouts. Later, in September 2020, Armstrong announced a new policy prohibiting social activism within Coinbase and subsequently offered severance packages to employees unsatisfied with the company’s apolitical mission. Coinbase ultimately lost 60 employees — 5% of its 1,200-employee staff — as a result.

At the software company Basecamp, internal discussion about a list of “funny” customer names sparked political discussions about diversity, inclusion, and tolerance. Disagreement between employees and a cofounder regarding the severity of the situation resulted in a similar ban on workplace political discussions. In response, nearly 30% of the company’s employees chose to leave.1

In this fraught political climate, is it possible to have fruitful workplace political discussions? Many scholars and consultants say yes. The solution involves employing the right style and technique. If people were to adopt a listening mentality, practice empathy, and provide ground rules for debate that allowed employees to disagree respectfully, then political discussions would be less acrimonious.2 In a perfect world, we would always follow these steps, but the unfortunate reality is that many political discussions are doomed from the start. The people who are least likely to compromise in a situation — the most ideologically extreme partisans — are also the ones who most frequently desire to talk about politics.3

Political discussions make visible what is often ambiguous, if not invisible: partisanship. When workers’ political identities are made known, they are often stigmatized. Instead of being seen as individuals, they are labeled and stereotyped by others as opposing partisans. More than a third of workers in a recent survey (34%) said their workplace is not inclusive of differing political perspectives.4

Both scholarly studies and anecdotal data show many examples of political bias in action in the workplace. A recent Glassdoor survey of U.S. workers found that 60% of Democrats and 50% of Republicans believe discussing politics at work could negatively impact their career opportunities.