Politics are a big deal right now. Liberals and conservatives are often heard heatedly debating their solutions to topics ranging from homelessness to education to crime to President Joe Biden and former president, Donald Trump, to what’s happening in Congress, and more.
We all have lots to talk about, and many points of view and, ideally, none of it ought to be discussed in the workplace. If you’re thinking that’s a good idea, you’re right. Alas, employers — who ought to keep the workplace toxicity free — are letting their stance on political issues be known to the world.
The knowledge-sharing platform, e-Learning did a study of politics in the workplace and found, to no surprise, a high percentage of workers do not share the political views of their employer. Here are some stats:
- 41% of employees disagree with the political stance of their employer
- 40% are embarrassed by that stance
The study found one reason the beliefs of the company and the employees do not jibe is because the employee is often left out of the discussion on what stance the company should take.
- 72% said they were not asked for a personal opinion on a political statement
- A high percentage of employers do not provide an opportunity for opinion sharing as just 33% have a political expression policy in place for employees
As for political discussions in the workplace, that’s a big concern, too.
- 64% say they’ve engaged in political arguments with coworkers
- 29% say they’ve lied about their political beliefs to avoid that isolation from other workers
- 45% think a political disagreement with their employer will hurt chances for promotion and raises
Mike Pappas is the founder of e-Learning. He says it’s important for employers to find ways to mitigate political disagreements and to put tools in place for resolve conflicts when they occur.
“Most importantly, start building your core company values,” he said. “To do that you’ll also need to find out what employees want and need from your organization.”
That’s what employees think. What about the public? A poll from Gallup and Bentley University finds that 60% of us don’t want companies to take a stance on anything political.
We just want to shop without a lot of political noise.
- 60% of those polled don’t want companies taking a political stance on current events
- That’s up from 52% a year ago
- As for LGBTQ+ issues — just 37% think businesses should take a public stance
- For racial issues the number is 45%
- Gun laws — 39%
- Immigration policies — 34%
- International conflicts — 27%
On the positive:
- 55% think companies should take a stand on global warming
- 52% think companies should take a stand on mental health
- 49% think companies should take a stand on free speech
- 48% think companies should take a stand on healthcare
The least popular stances were on non-surprising areas:
- Abortion — 26%
- Political candidates — 19%
- Religion — 15%
Source link: PropertyCasualty360.com — https://bit.ly/3s5zigw
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