Civil and Psychologically Safe Political Conversations Lead to Lengthier Tenure

Fostering civil political conversations can result in employees staying with their employer for years longer and trusting their organization more, according to a new SHRM Research report, Managing Difficult and Political Conversations in the Workplace.

Benefits of Civil Conversations

Workers who rated their workplace high on civility and psychological safety during political conversations were likely to stay with their organization for nearly two years longer on average than those who rated their organization low on these areas, the report found. It was based on a survey conducted between July 10 and July 22 with a representative sample of 1,971 U.S.-based workers.

Employees who reported that their work environment was low on civility and psychological safety during political conversations intended to stay with their organization for 5.74 years on average, the research found. Workers at organizations where there was high civility and high psychological safety during political conversations intended to stay with their current organization for 7.46 more years on average.

In addition, these workers were more likely to be satisfied with their jobs, have greater trust in their co-workers and managers, and agree that their workplace supports innovation. These are important factors in retaining qualified workers who are in high demand.

Challenges in Bringing About Civil Conversations

There are challenges in creating civility and psychological safety in the workplace. According to SHRM’s Civility Index results from the third quarter of 2024, more than half of U.S. workers (59%) believe society today is generally uncivil. The Civility Index also revealed that workers collectively encountered nearly 190 million uncivil acts per day in their everyday lives during the third quarter of 2024, and 58% of those surveyed experienced or witnessed incivility at work. This comes at a high cost, leading to more than $2 billion in daily losses due to reduced productivity and absenteeism.

Nearly three-quarters of U.S. workers (71%) said they have had a conversation about political topics with a member of their work team in the past, according to the SHRM Research report. 

Many of the workers said the political conversations happened in informal settings, such as break rooms, or at social events outside work, such as happy hour. 

Despite the prevalence of political conversations, only 27% said these conversations are productive. 

However, when workers saw the workplace as civil and psychologically safe during political conversations, they were more likely to say these conversations were informative and productive.

On the other hand, when workers rated their workplace low on civility and psychological safety, they were more likely to strongly agree or agree that political conversations are uncomfortable, pointless, annoying, or frustrating. 

Working with Those Who Hold Opposing Views

One of the greatest challenges is maintaining strong relationships with co-workers who hold different political views. Helpful strategies, according to those surveyed, include:

• Maintaining a respectful and professional demeanor.
• Focusing on common goals.
• Avoiding contentious topics when it was clear there would be strong disagreements.

While these are individual-level strategies, there are also things organizations can do.

Five Essential Components for Civil Political Conversations

The research supported a framework of five essential components that organizations can implement to create workplaces where employees are positioned to handle political conversations successfully:

1. Treat civility and psychological safety as nonnegotiable.

2. Leverage leadership to guide workers and set a cultural example.

3. Use training opportunities to practice having effective difficult and political conversations.

4. Set policies and guidelines that are rooted in civil conduct and psychological safety.

5. Learn and grow from challenging and contentious experiences.