Is talking politics at work beneficial for organizations?

Çağan Yıldırım
13 replies
It’s natural for employees to have non-work-related conversations while on the job. What about politics? Share your thoughts and experiences below!

Replies

Cagri Sarigoz
I don't think so. But employers shouldn't prohibit talking politics on Slack channels or watercooler chats. If employees can share cat photos on Slack, they can also create a Slack channel about politics and talk politics there. We all witnessed what happened to 37Signals when company management banned political talks on Slack. (More about it here: https://techcrunch.com/2021/04/3...) So I think it's something should not be encouraged, but also definitely not be banned by the company management.
Ivan Gribin
While there is no clear-cut answer to this question, research has shown that discussing politics at work can have both positive and negative effects. On the one hand, having productive political discussions can open up conversations that can lead to better understanding between employees of different backgrounds and create a more inclusive environment in the workplace. On the other hand, having discussions that become too divisive can be damaging to morale and team unity.
bijal dave
It can definitely cause divide and affect the synergy of the team
Aaron Marco Arias
It depends a lot on what the organization is doing. Some industries are deeply political. In those cases, being politically aligned can help advance the company mission. I'm thinking about crypto, for instance. But if you're in, idk, B2B SaaS, it's very likely that politics will be irrelevant. Unless someone's politics empowers them to mistreat or disrespect other team members.
JOSHIN VARGHESE
Definitely don't support that
mary lee
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Shushant Lakhyani
I think it depends a lot on a lot of variables here
Umut Günbak
I don't think so since it may cause conflicts and discrimination in the teams which will cause inefficiency
Richard Gao
I think it really depends on the size of the organization. A small organization of close friends may be able to handle political disagreements, but for strangers who barely know each other in a work environment, it has the tendency to break team cohesion. It can be pretty disastrous for some employees to mention their politics, so I think the CEO or some other higher up talking politics casually with their team in a larger organization could cause far more damage. With one employee, their reputation might be damaged if they say the wrong thing, but if a higher up says something, it can ruin the cohesion of the whole team since there's someone with more authority they respect and trust less. The mindset I take is that no one can fault you for staying neutral and being quiet. Saying something most people agree with you politically doesn't net that much of a benefit, but saying something wrong can be destructive.
Annika Puura
DevRel Careers
DevRel Careers
I think it depends on how close you are with your colleagues. If you know their vibe and sense of humour it can be beneficial for small talk but say you don't know their beliefs and make an inappropriate joke about someone's political views... So it definitely depends on how close you are, but if in doubt, don't :)
Thasleema Samad
Talking politics at work is not a good idea. It affects relationships.
Nancy Nishi
Talking politics at work can negatively impact your relationships with coworkers or bosses and your status at a company.
Jon Barry
I think it irrelevant to talk about politics at workplace.