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With just a few days left until the US presidential election, the mood is shifting in workplaces around the country.
As HR leaders prepare for an administration change, employees are preparing to cope with the surrounding discourse, with 31% calling the election “a source of tension or friction” at work, according to a recent report from global communications agency Burson. While 76% of employers and 84% of C-suite executives are confident in their readiness to handle post-election political discourse, just 53% of employees feel the same.
“Polarization is impacting business. It’s impacting productivity. It’s impacting culture,” said Bob Feldman, founder of the Dialogue Project, an initiative that helps improve the civility of conversations in the workplace, during a virtual conversation with Johnny C. Taylor, president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management, on Oct. 28.
Feldman and Taylor shared advice for how leaders can navigate the post-election environment.
Don’t squash convos. Some business leaders discourage political discussions at work, Feldman said, just as they might discourage political discussions at Thanksgiving dinner. But just as this strategy doesn’t always work at the kitchen table, it doesn’t always work in the office and shouldn’t be applied to employees.
“It’s not just about being prepared to handle a crisis. It’s about what role should business play to help solve this problem of polarization,” he said. It’s up to leadership to help employees listen, not jump to conclusions, and, when talking with someone who has a differing opinion, “take winning off the table.”
“You’re not there to convert somebody. You’re there to learn and understand,” Feldman said. “There’s a lot that companies can do to be part of the solution.”
SMBs, look out. Taylor said it’s particularly important that small- and medium-sized business leaders facilitate these conversations.
“A large enterprise can have a small percentage of people be at each other’s necks, and it’s uncomfortable, but it’s not going to pose a threat to the company existentially,” Taylor said. “But small- and medium-sized companies have a real risk when they have people either walking off of the job or worse, coming to work, but not performing at their best.”
SHRM recently published a guide for people leaders on how an administration change will impact the workplace, and how they can help promote civil conversations among employees.
“You don’t want to shut people down from doing what humans naturally do, which is talk about these issues of the day, while at the same time, we can’t afford to lose the productivity,” Taylor said. “And, ultimately, [the] employee experience can’t be sacrificed, because people spend all day upset with each other.”