How to Manage Political Conversations in Your Workplace

Given the continuing divisive political climate in the United States, many companies are grappling with whether and how to attempt to limit conversations about politics in the workplace. This article explains what employers and managers can do and what pitfalls to avoid.

A private employer generally has wide latitude to limit political expression in the workplace provided they don’t run afoul of protected activity under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) or applicable state laws. However, it’s nearly impossible to limit all political conversation in the workplace, and any attempt to do so may hurt morale or employee engagement. At the same time, without guidelines, political conversations can quickly become disruptive and devolve into an activity that is not in line with company policies or behavioral expectations. Here are approaches to consider for dealing with political expression in the workplace; the right approach will ultimately depend on the employer’s specific situation and culture.

Most Permissive: Allowing Political Discussion

Where a work environment has well-established norms around upholding an inclusive culture and respectful treatment of colleagues, an employer can often trust staff to be mindful of how they engage on hot-button topics and address any related issues on an as-needed basis. However, given current political polarization, even if a company has laid the groundwork to ensure its culture is civil and respectful, it may prove useful to communicate some ground rules ahead of the election.

There is no way to guarantee that employees engage with civility, compassion, and measured language. An employer can, however, help set the stage by:

• Acknowledging that regardless of political party or beliefs, tensions are running high, and many team members may be feeling stress or fear related to the upcoming election.
• Reminding employees that the workplace is a place where everyone should feel safe, welcomed, respected, and included.
• Reminding managers that they shouldn’t assume that all employees share the same political beliefs.
• Communicating to employees that the company doesn’t want to limit healthy dialogue about important social issues, but it also has a vested interest in reducing disruptions and maintaining a culture of respect.
• Redistributing company harassment, discrimination, and general conduct policies.
• Prohibiting comments about candidates (or anyone else) that are discriminatory or harassing based on the candidates’ or their supporters’ race, sex, national origin, religion, color, age, disability, or any other legally protected characteristic.
• Reminding employees that too much personal conversation can interfere with performance expectations. Even an exchange that’s only a few minutes long, if it is divisive or disrespectful, could result in a loss of productivity and damage to morale.
• Encouraging employees to be mindful of how and when they engage in conversation on political topics. Some people enjoy talking politics, while others find it stressful and don’t want to engage in political conversation at work.
• Encouraging employees to approach these conversations from a place of curiosity. Employees should attempt to understand the viewpoints of others, accepting that they may not find common ground. Conversation should be seen as an opportunity for better understanding, not a means to change someone’s mind.
• Setting guidelines for managers related to the election and political conversations, such as the ones at the end of this article.

Middle Ground: Prohibiting Certain Behaviors

Employers may want to curb but not eliminate the possibility of political discourse in the workplace. In this case, it may be enough to spell out specific activities that are off-limits. For example:

• Distributing political materials in working areas or displaying campaign materials in employee workstations.
• Talking about political candidates in front of customers, vendors, or other workplace visitors.
• Discussing political candidates on company computers or internal communication channels (keep in mind that if employees are working from home, this will amount to a total ban).
• Prohibiting solicitation of money or support for political candidates or causes during work time.

Employers should avoid cherry-picking topics that cannot be discussed. Singling out certain topics, such as “No discussing Black Lives Matter,” is likely to create employee morale issues and could even give rise to a discrimination claim. And even with a neutral policy, such as “No discussing religion,” employers need to ensure that they are perfectly consistent in enforcement. If, for instance, an employer only disciplined employees who were arguing about Judaism in the lunchroom but not employees talking about Sunday’s Mass over the cubicle wall, that would be discriminatory. (This is why having a policy around civility, respect, and the use of “inside voices” will generally be safer and ultimately more effective in achieving the goal of a harmonious workplace.)

Finally, the fact that many political topics bleed into one another makes enforcement an exercise in futility. A conversation on the topic of religious liberty might quickly turn into a conversation about trans rights or women’s rights, and a discussion about abortion might suddenly switch to a discussion about welfare policy and immigration.

Employers taking the middle ground approach should also provide the guidelines presented above for the most permissive workplace and ensure they are familiar with Section 7.

Most Restrictive: Prohibiting Political Discussions

An employer is within its rights to attempt to ban almost all political discussions in the workplace (exceptions are discussed below). That said, the risks of this approach are significant. A strict ban on talking politics in the workplace can send a message that an employer doesn’t trust employees to use good judgment and engage with coworkers respectfully. It also fails to recognize the impact that current political and social issues have on employees.

Employers may also find it difficult to delineate what is considered political versus not political. What one person might consider an over-politicized issue may be very personal to someone else. For instance, prohibiting discussions about religious freedom, civil rights, and LGBTQ+ rights could feel like a prohibition on discussing an employee’s basic human experience. This can lead to feelings of exclusion and can potentially fuel claims of discrimination.

It’s a common misconception that all speech is protected in all places, but the First Amendment right to free speech only protects people from having their speech limited by the government. Under federal law, private employers are free to regulate speech in almost any way that does not conflict with Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act. However, some states have protections that could limit an employer’s ability to prohibit political speech. For example, California and the District of Columbia protect political affiliation, and Connecticut protects employees’ First Amendment rights. Employers should check their state laws to ensure any limitations are legal.

Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act gives non-supervisory employees the right to discuss the terms and conditions of their employment at any time, in any forum (e.g., the break room, the sidewalk, Facebook, or Yelp). This includes discussing:

• How much money they make, including any opinions about how their pay is impacted by race, national origin, sex, or their inclusion in any other protected class.
• Workplace safety, whether related to coming to work during protests, specific hazards, or anything else safety-related.
• Employer-required or recommended personal protective equipment.
• Treatment from management.
• Shift assignments.
• Anything related to unionizing

While this law protects some political activities, it doesn’t give employees the right to discuss politics that aren’t work-related during work hours.

Employers who intend to limit workplace conversations should learn about Section 7 of the NLRA since its protections are easy to violate if they aren’t fully understood. Employers should make it clear in their communications that the company does not prohibit conversations that would be protected under the NLRA and does not limit employees’ ability to engage in off-duty political activities but may investigate off-duty conduct that violates company policy.

When Employees Speak with Their Wardrobe

As a general matter, employers can set and enforce consistently applied neutral uniform policies and dress codes. However, the NLRA makes it illegal to prohibit employees from wearing union buttons, t-shirts, and other insignia related to working conditions unless special circumstances warrant the restriction, such as legitimate safety concerns. Some workplaces ban clothing with graphics or slogans regardless of the political climate, which will generally solve the political clothing problem automatically. However, employers that have had a lax dress code (or, in many cases, no dress code) should consider whether the benefits of implementing stricter guidelines would outweigh the potential negative impact on culture and morale.

Manager Guidelines

In whatever way an employer decides to address workplace political discussion, communication around manager expectations is key. Consider guiding managers to:

• Unify their team as much as possible while making space for different perspectives.
• Help employees avoid tension caused by differing political beliefs by separating the person from their politics. Get to know one another’s hobbies, pets, family, or life goals.
• Ground discussions in company values or strategic goals instead of political persuasion. For example, “The company believes racial justice is a human rights issue and aligns with our desire to create an inclusive workplace.”
• Limit discussion of their own political beliefs to avoid an appearance of favoritism for team members with similar beliefs.
• Monitor team discussions and climate, helping to redirect conversations as needed.
• Follow company policy related to social media engagement with team members and colleagues.
• Avoid getting involved in employees’ off-the-clock political lives unless it is related to work or violates company policy. Concerns about off-duty political activities should be brought to HR for guidance.
• Avoid attempting to influence employees’ political decisions or ask how they voted.
• Not take adverse actions, threaten, or retaliate against employees for how they vote or their political beliefs.

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