Differing Political Viewpoints Are Contributing to Incivility

Just ahead of the election, political tensions and disagreements are playing out in the workplace and in everyday life—and contributing to incivility now more than before.

That’s according to SHRM’s Q3 Civility Index, released Oct. 28, which found that differing political viewpoints and differences in opinion on topics related to social issues are the top contributors to incivility occurring in the workplace and in everyday life. In fact, 27% more workers cited political viewpoint differences as a contributing factor to incivility at work in Q3 than in Q2.

“The data is clearly showing us how heated these topics can get around this time in an election year,” said SHRM Lead Researcher Derrick Scheetz.

Overall, both society-level and workplace-level scores on the Civility Index rose slightly in Q3 compared to Q2—meaning that rates of uncivil behaviors increased in the past couple of months.

On average, U.S. workers scored a 46.1 out of 100 on the Q3 Civility Index when asked about incivility they personally experienced or witnessed in their everyday lives (i.e., both in and out of work) over the past month. That’s an increase of 0.5 points from the society-level score from Q2.

U.S. workers scored an average of 37.2 on the Q3 Civility Index when asked about incivility they personally experienced or witnessed while at work over the past month. Compared to the Q2 workplace-level score, the Q3 Civility Index saw an increase of 0.9 points. Consistent with prior scores, workers continue to rate their workplaces as more civil than what they experience in their everyday lives.

SHRM’s Civility Index, launched in May, gauges how often people say they have experienced or witnessed uncivil behavior. The Civility Index asks respondents to recall the past month and rank a series of statements on a scale from 0 (never) to 10 (almost always). Total scores are produced by adding together scores from all items separately for the society-level and workplace-level question sets to produce a total score for each. These total scores are then placed on a 100-point scale (0 being incivility never occurs and 100 being incivility almost always occurs).

The data follows warnings from industry experts who cautioned that differences of opinion on politics would cause tensions in the workplace ahead of the election.

“The current social and political climate, marked by heightened tensions and divisive rhetoric, is geared toward eliciting an emotional response,” Edward J. Beltran, CEO of global leadership development and training company Fierce, told SHRM in August. “We don’t separate our lives into neat compartments where work is one compartment and private life is another. Political turmoil and societal divisions spill over into professional environments, affecting behavior and interactions. As a result, employees bring these heightened emotions and reduced patience into the workplace, leading to more frequent uncivil interactions.”

The latest figures out of SHRM’s Civility Index indicate that employers would be well served to address rising tensions and promote civility ahead of Election Day and in the weeks after, Scheetz said.

“This is a great time for employers to review their workplace conduct policies and remind employees about expectations outlined in those policies,” he said.

Employers can also leverage and prepare their managers to address any election-related conflicts that come up through mediation or guide workers through having respectful discussions, he said.

“Politics is very personal to many people, so it helps to know your people and how to best lead them through this period if they are struggling or feel upset,” Scheetz said. “We’ve heard of companies holding town halls to give workers the chance to voice their opinions or concerns. While some might see this as a good time to blow off some steam, these strategies are most effective when they are led by a neutral, unbiased party with the goal of establishing respect and understanding across your workforce—even if it means reaching an understanding of what topics to avoid while at work.”

SHRM just released a Political Conversations Playbook that highlights techniques to get through these conversations together as a workforce.

Meanwhile, others have pointed to increased stress as a result of the election and said that organizations should step up mental health support for their employees during this time.

Employees Say Managers Need to Do Better

Experts are not the only ones to say employers should increase efforts to foster a more civil work environment—employees also say their employers need to be doing more to promote civility. In fact, according to the Civility Index, employees said that managers are often the ones creating a work environment that breeds incivility.

More than two-thirds of workers (68%) agreed that their manager or supervisor could have done more to prevent incivility, and 65% said that managers and supervisors care more about business objectives than how people are treated in their workplace, according to the Q3 Civility Index. What’s more, 60% of workers agreed that their manager or supervisor has ignored acts of incivility in the workplace.

“Our data shows us that ignoring is one of the top ways people respond to incivility, but managers have a responsibility to their workers to overcome this instinct,” Scheetz said. “We often say leaders are critical to creating positive workplace cultures, but inaction to correcting poor behavior sends a signal that these behaviors are acceptable, which may lead to toxicity seeping into your culture before you know it. Managers must work to correct these uncivil and unwanted behaviors when they occur.”

Oftentimes, Scheetz said, these corrections can be accomplished through managers bringing those involved together, establishing neutral-based ground rules, and working together to identify the problems to achieve solutions.

“Taking action not only helps to snuff out incivility but also communicates the manager respects their workers enough to address problems through working together,” he said. “And when managers may be struggling to do this, HR is always there to offer support and help.”

Not only does addressing incivility better promote employee mental health, employee satisfaction, and a better work environment, it can help employers’ bottom line, as well: In total, U.S. organizations collectively lose approximately $2,168,249,033 per day in reduced productivity and absenteeism due to incivility, according to the Q3 Civility Index.