HANDLING THE HOT POTATO OF POLITICAL DEBATE
In America, free speech is considered a sacred right. But what happens when employees assert that right by arguing about politics or by offending coworkers with bumper stickers or political brochures?

It's not surprising that in the wake of the Nov. 7 election, political talk around the proverbial water cooler is almost impossible to avoid. In fact, nearly half, or 43 percent, of 1,503 registered U.S. voters, said they've been debating political issues at work, according to a recent Associated Press/Pew Research Center poll reported in a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) online article.

Twenty-eight percent say they're also talking politics at their places of worship, and 70% say they're airing their views with family and friends. In America, as the poll shows, we've got our opinions and we're not shy about exercising our right to express them.

Some experts say there are benefits to talking politics in the workplace, as long as the discussions remain civil: "The good news is, any kind of discussion that has a passion wrapped around it is a time when co-workers can learn about other co-workers," said Ross DeSimone, managing director of the Corporate Psychological Resource Center, a Royersford-based firm of business psychologists, performance coaches and human resource specialists. DeSimone was recently quoted in an article in TheMercury, in Pottsdown, Pennsylvania.

It can help them to "break out of their shell," and even encourage them to 'develop relationships,'" he said.

But there can also be bad news: "If you have a fundamentally strained relationship with a co-worker -- say, someone you view as a competitive threat -- then when you introduce a passionate topic it can fuel the wedge in a relationship," he added.

Another angle to consider is that it's an employer's responsibility to "ensure that work environments are safe, are free of hostility and conducive to productivity" by "protecting employees from being badgered or pressured by overzealous political advocates," said Peter Susser, a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Littler Mendelson, the nation's largest employment and labor law firm. Susser was quoted in The Mercury article.

So, how do you balance an employee's right to express himself with another employee's right to be free from harassment?

One approach is to adopt a broad policy that covers political discussion and then incorporate it into the culture of the organization through diversity awareness, interpersonal communications and similar programs, according to a recent SHRM online article.

Generally, such policies state, for example: "that the organization has a professional work environment where respect for individual feelings and convictions of others is required."

Supervisors should also be encouraged to tread softly if political discussions do come up in the workplace. (See Side Story.) They should try to keep personal views, for example, from spilling over into work relationships – especially their own. It's especially important not to evaluate an employee based on his or her political views. A person's politics should never enter into a supervisor's assessment of that person's work or value to the organization.

The fine line between keeping a workplace free from hostility and allowing employees reasonable leeway to express themselves is, understandably, difficult for some companies to walk. Along the way, it's not surprising that some companies blunder.

A human resource employee at a Timberville, Va. plant, for example, was fired October 5 for not removing a sign from his personal vehicle that urged others to 'Please vote for Marriage on November 7." The agricultural products maker dismissed the employee on grounds he was insubordinate for ignoring orders to remove the sign "which could reasonably construed as a show of hostility and intolerance toward homosexuals," according to a story in DNR Online. Because the employee tried to comply with the company's demands by parking in what he thought was a non-company-owned lot, and after the Valley Family Forum became involved, he was reinstated.

The comany later referred to the firing as a "big misunderstanding."

Other companies have openly acknowledged upcoming elections and have encouraged employees to express their opinions via another good old American tradition - voting.

They're encouraging employees to vote by: "inviting candidates of local elections to speak at the employer's site, providing information on certain initiatives related to the employer's industry or even providing their own political action committees," according to a recent SHRM article that reported about a SHRM online poll.

Whatever your company's approach, and whether you're a manager or a regular employee, navigating the sometimes rough waters of workplace political discussions often boils down to using common sense.

"We all know philosophically that we're different, and when those differences get so in-your-face it gets harder to separate the personal," said Sylvia Henderson, CEO of Springboard Training in Olney, Md., as quoted in the Mercury article.

If things start getting too touchy, you can try to change the subject or, as a last resort, you can always say, "Let's agree to disagree."