“God, I hate this country!” One of my former co-workers at an old job uttered those words to express his frustration with President Bush and the Republicans who, at the time, controlled Congress.
I wasn’t overly shocked by his dismay since I knew he was, by all definitions, a liberal. Like clockwork, nearly every morning he and another employee would recap the previous evening’s “Jon Stewart Show" and gloat about how Stewart lampooned another conservative for making some "stupid” remark.
At another job, a proud Young Republican was known to play Rush Limbaugh every morning while working in one of our news bureaus with a fellow reporter who religiously votes Democrat. Needless to say, my left-leaning friend who had to endure this was less than thrilled.
I’ve even seen people campaign on the job – whether it’s sending out e-mails about a campaign rally, handing out bumper stickers or posting flyers on bulletin boards.
I was reminded of all these incidents when I came across an article on the topic (figures, I can’t find it now, but
here’s a good one from MSNBC). Inevitably, as the presidential race heats up in the coming months, so will political discussions at work.
I usually keep my political opinions to myself when I’m at work. That’s hard to do as a journalist, especially since we write about political issues all the time. I tend to err on the side of caution, which according to some comments in the MSNBC story may or may not be such a good thing. One manager quoted in the story says political discourse helps employees gain a better understanding of each other.
I’m not as certain. Political expression is an essential right that we all have, but the workplace probably isn’t the appropriate venue to share your opinions. I’ve seen political talk create divisions among employees and distractions. Lunchtime and break-room discussions are typically harmless. But overt displays of political allegiance on the job can hurt productivity, morale and feelings.
Politics can touch all sorts of personal and religious issues – whether it’s abortion, the death penalty, welfare or health care. As a once-devoted listener of Howard Stern, there’s no bigger proponent of free speech and expression as I am. (I stopped listening when he moved to satellite radio.) But let’s not kid ourselves. Free speech has never been part of the work environment. We have harassment policies that prevent us from commenting on another employee’s appearance, and you’ll probably get fired if you tell your boss he's a jerk.
A new “no politics at work policy” isn’t necessary – we already have enough intrusive policies in the workplace. But an informal talk with employees about how politics can impact people around them could prevent contentious situations from arising in the future.
Talking Politics at Work
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