Managing Talent in Election Season

4 min. read

Most of us live somewhere between “it’s impolite to talk about politics” and “the personal is political”, including in our work lives. Unlike the family dinner table or a cocktail party, however, there are serious career repercussions to getting it wrong when dealing with contentious issues in the workplace. Politics seems fraught everywhere. What impact does this have on your talent management strategy?

 

Legal Protections

While nothing that follows constitutes actual legal advice, it is necessary to look at the limits that may exist on any manager or employer. Specific protections, rights, and restrictions vary between jurisdictions, and anyone with a question about their situation should speak to a legal professional for clear answers. Those caveats notwithstanding, we can at least look at a few broad ideas.

No employer or manager should feel alone in being concerned about how to deal with politics in the workplace. Employment law firm Littler found that 87% of employers expressed concern over managing contentious beliefs in the runup to the US elections. Given the intensity of political polarization, it is understandable that nobody wants to deal with the disruption to workplace harmony that heated arguments can cause.

In the USA in general, private employers are legally permitted to engage with employee speech in ways that the government is not. The First Amendment prevents the government from restricting speech; unless there are local laws or regulations in place, private employers are not covered in this prohibition. Many states, however, do have laws that explicitly prohibit private employers from disciplining or restricting employees from expressing their political affiliations or views.

Best Policies and Practices

While it may be legally permissible to prohibit all political speech within the workplace, leaders should ask whether that is the kind of culture they wish to build. Diversity of opinion can be a vital part of creating an open and inclusive workplace, even if it carries the risk of having difficult conversations. There are some general guidelines to bear in mind when trying to navigate these choppy waters.

First, look to the policies you already have in place. You likely already have policies around employee behavior that apply here. Your current policies around harassment and mutual respect can likely go a long way in covering what seems like a novel situation. Look at policies functionally instead of getting bogged down in the specific content. If you already have a policy in place regarding professional dress code, you don’t need a new policy to prohibit wearing candidate t-shirts. As Squire Patton Boggs puts it, “Utilizing rules employees already understand to be part of the workplace demonstrates that employers are not simply trying to silence employees on political topics, but rather are promoting a generally safe and productive work environment for all employees.”

Just as importantly, remain neutral and consistent in all of your interactions with employees and direct reports. Even if you only ever refer to extant company policy, you need to do so regardless of whether you and your employees are on the same side of an issue. When you do address an issue, do so promptly and professionally.

International Relations

Astute readers will note that the legal issues discussed above are particular to the USA. Countries all handle speech and politics differently. What is allowed in one country may be barred in another. The USA is generally regarded as having a minimally interventionist position on government regulation of speech. French law, for example, seeks a balance between the fundamental right of free speech and the demands of other, competing, rights. Libel laws are friendlier to the complainant in the UK than they are in the USA. Global companies, therefore, must remain aware of the regulatory milieu in their employees' locales.

Soon after Russia invaded Ukraine, we spoke with an HR leader whose company had presence in both countries. She reminded us that her job is to look after the wellbeing of employees on both sides of an armed conflict. This kind of balance is surely hard to attain, but the example should stand in countries where internal division is a greater risk than military invasion. Leaders have to lead the entire company, in all of its economic, social, racial, gender, political, and geographic diversity.

A Balancing Act

Ultimately, it all comes down to balance. Understanding the kind of culture you want to build at your organization will help you understand where to go. If you value openness and dialogue, know that you’re going to need to spend time building or refining policies and procedures that allow that to flourish. If you are conflict-averse, you still need to be even-handed in dealing with something as potentially volatile as political speech. If you have developed the right leaders, policies and procedures, and understand your culture both as it is and where you want it to go, a balancing act does not need to be a high-wire act.