The contentious U.S. election is causing emotions to run high everywhere — including at the workplace.
Political and social tensions have sent workplace incivility to an all-time high this year, according to a survey from the human-resources group SHRM. As U.S. voters finish choosing a new president today, many are also bracing for a lot of tense conversations with colleagues — whether around the in-person watercooler, or over Zoom and other digital platforms.
“It’s getting hot out here,” says Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM’s president and CEO.
Taylor and other HR experts attribute some of the growing anxiety over political minefields at the workplace to this year’s divisive and unprecedented presidential contest between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. They also blame the lingering shadow of the violence of Jan. 6, 2021, when a group of Trump’s supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol.
That violence sent a message that “you have the license to not just disagree with someone, but to physically hurt someone because of their political affiliation,” Taylor says.
For employers, there’s more at stake than workplace harmony. U.S. businesses are losing $2.17 billion per day from reduced productivity and absenteeism relating to incivility, SHRM estimates.
Now human resources executives are bracing for potentially many more weeks of uncertainty, and workplace disagreements over U.S. politics. After all, it could be days before the country knows the results of the presidential election – and months before the next U.S. president takes office.
“There is definitely potential for heightened tensions and…
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