What People Need for Productive Political Conversations at Work

With the first US presidential debate behind us, leaders are scrambling to respond to a spike in political discussions in the workplace. While many such conversations no doubt stay positive and respectful, 64% of employees surveyed by SHRM in the days after the June 27 debate said that they experienced or witnessed people being treated poorly at work due to their political views.

There’s no indication that workplace political discourse is becoming less common. The majority of employees say they “frequently engage” in workplace conversations about societal issues—a figure that has increased among all age groups since 2022—according to last fall’s Edelman Trust Barometer.

For many workers, interactions with colleagues bring a diversity of viewpoints and experiences that they would otherwise lack, as our communities and social feeds become increasingly homogenous. By learning to engage more thoughtfully, colleagues can learn to work closely with those with different viewpoints without communication breakdowns, unproductive conflict, and relationship damage.

Below are policies and practices to help employees navigate political discussion at work.

Policies and Guidelines

While experts we spoke to stressed the importance of crafting bespoke policies that match an organization’s unique culture and values, a few themes recurred:

• Proactively set policies. Too many organizations take a wait-and-see approach to setting guidelines around political discussion in the workplace, but that’s a mistake, says Amy Mosher, chief people officer at human resources platform isolved. “If you're not proactive, something will bubble up.”

• Co-create guidelines with employee input. Give employees an opportunity to weigh in on any proposed rules, as well as give feedback on how the finalized policy is playing out in practice. Karan Singh, chief people officer at Headspace, recommends working with employee resource groups (ERGs) to solicit input from a diverse group of employees.

• Consider all communication channels. Policies should cover both in-person and digital communication. For example, Salesforce’s “Chatiquette” guidelines set expectations for acceptable behavior on the company Slack, including policies around political discussions. In-person guidelines, in contrast, might focus on skills like active listening, asking open-ended questions, and de-escalation.

• Draw bright lines. Craft policies to give employees clarity around what acceptable and unacceptable conversations look like, as well as productive vs. unproductive disagreement and conflict look like. For example, at isolved, “having an open conversation about your own political views in a space where you're speaking with other individuals who would also feel comfortable sharing their own is fine,” whereas “campaigning at work isn’t what we would define as professional,” says Mosher. Headspace draws a line that allows for disagreement that “happens in a constructive and productive fashion rather than spiraling into the negative loop,” says Singh. Other organizations without a strong culture of open conversations might decide to prohibit political discussion and debate entirely.

• Create spaces for discussion and productive disagreement. While it may be counterintuitive, Singh says creating “a safe haven for disagreement” is essential for building psychological safety at the organization. He recommends starting by identifying existing communities like ERGs to host conversations about political and social issues that are important to community members.

• Empower employees to draw their own boundaries. “Perception is reality,” says Mosher, so any conversation where one party feels uncomfortable “is not an open conversation.” To address those situations, isolved trains workers to check in with a colleague’s comfort levels before launching into a potentially sensitive topic and shut down any uncomfortable conversations in a constructive way.

📋 What to do

To roll out your policies on political discussions at work, consider adopting a product mindset to encourage experimentation, debate and discussion, and ongoing iteration. We’ve previously applied this framework to crafting return-to-office and learning-and-development strategies.

Employee training

Experts we spoke with say it’s important to prepare employees to have respectful and productive interactions. While there are third-party groups that run trainings, including Civic Alliance, Braver Angels, and Disagreeing Better, here are some things to keep in mind:

• Focus on foundational skills. Mosher points out that many of the skills required to have productive political conversations aren’t new to workers: “It's all about how to have a difficult discussion in a constructive way and to have open, active listening skills,” she says. For the politics-specific training, “we just utilize examples that are politically charged.”

• Practice is key. “If you haven't had that kind of interaction, you probably don’t know how to handle it,” says Mosher. Giving people opportunities to put these skills into practice will also build comfort and confidence. Before jumping in, remind workers of the shared values and expectations around respectful dialogue. Facilitators should have a plan to intervene and follow up in case conversations escalate.

• Provide training on identifying mis/disinformation. Greg Behrman, CEO of leadership network and advisory company NationSwell, recommends layering in training on assessing information quality, as productive conversations become more difficult when colleagues are relying on totally different sets of “facts.” He points to a number of approaches organizations can take, from third-party trainings on media and digital literacy, sessions led by internal IT leaders to build AI fluency to identify AI-generated content, and the distribution of resources like factcheck.org.

• Focus on managers and leaders. Managers “play an essential role,” says Singh. “A lot of that has to do with modeling what matters and actually setting the right tone… and if they see folks who aren’t doing that, acting on it and addressing it.”

📋 What to read

1. Civic Alliance’s guide, “Politics and Polarization in the Workplace: An employer guide to bridge building,” which highlights principles for respectful communication, tips for employees, and a sample email for rolling out policy on political dialogue.
2. Our interview with MIT’s Deb Roy, which covers the skills and resources necessary for “constructive communication” at work.

Follow Through

Beyond preparing employees to engage thoughtfully with policies and trainings, organizations should also invest in providing ongoing support and feedback to make productive political conversations possible.

• Prepare managers for accountability and feedback conversations. “It’s all about coaching for us, with poignant, direct, and timely feedback,” says Mosher. That means managers checking in with employees about conversations that may have been uncomfortable, with a focus on repairing any potential damage in working relationships. Singh recommends a simple framework for managers who might not know where to start when they observe unproductive disagreement: “When you said ‘X,’ I felt ‘Y’ emotion and others may have as well. Can you share more about where you were coming from?” Then, he says, “try to really understand what might be going on and what led them to take that step, then brainstorm other ways we could have approached that.”

• Provide support for election stress. Any efforts to improve political conversations may be undercut if leaders fail to address underlying election stress. Singh points to a number of traditional support structures that can help reduce election stress, including mental health benefits and investments in ERGs. “Just as importantly, being able to participate in the democratic process and being part of the election can reduce feelings of helplessness and anxiety,” he says, whether that’s taking time to vote, volunteering, or serving as a poll worker.

📋 What to read

Previous pieces in this series cover tactics for encouraging civic participation, a case study on Microsoft’s approach to political engagement, and how to address workplace protests.

Article by Michelle Peng.

©2024, Charter Works, Inc. This article is reprinted with permission from Charter Works, Inc. All rights reserved.