The topic of bringing politics into work has always been a controversial one. Recently, President Donald Trump scathing takedown of Goodyear Tires has sparked debate on social media. Goodyear Tires had disallowed campaign attire to curb political expression (politics at work) in the workplace. President Trump himself called for the boycott of Goodyear Tires claiming the company banned hats bearing his campaign phrase ‘Make America Great Again’ or MAGA.
Piplsay has conducted extensive research to highlight the opinions of working Americans regarding political expression in workplaces. The research was conducted in the wake of heated energy around presidential polls. America’s battle over politics and race has begun to turn the spotlight on workplace policies yet again. A month, employees at the Whole Foods sued the company for demonstrating discrimination against them for wearing Black Lives Matter gear.
Discrimination based on political affiliations
A Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) poll recorded last year in October found that 42 percent of employees have had a “political disagreement” at work. Moreover, about 12 percent of employees experienced political affiliation bias. Calls to the SHRM HR Knowledge Center about dealing with political talk at work spiked to 900 in 2019 from 310 in 2017. A majority (56 percent) of those responding to the SHRM study stated the discussion of politics in the office has become more common in the past four years.
A Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) conducted extensive research in 2019. The findings revealed that 82 percent of Republicans believe the Democratic Party has been taken over by socialists. (By a similar margin, Democrats think their party is just trying to make capitalism work.) Meanwhile, 80 percent of Democrats believe the Republican Party is being controlled by racists. (But 94 percent of Republicans disagree, saying their party is just trying to protect America’s values.)
Do politics and workplace go together?
Piplsay recorded opinions of 20,283 Americans to understand their stance on the matter. A large sample size as this leaves little room for invalidity since the sample size reflects the opinions of people from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.
When people were asked the following question, “President Trump’s recent criticism of Goodyear Tires for prohibiting their employees from wearing MAGA attire has brought the ‘politics in the workplace’ issue into focus again. What do American workers think about this contentious issue?” About 28% of Americans answered that employees should have the right to express their political affiliation.
About 46% of Americans reported that companies should take a public stand on political issues as well. Most companies have their human resource departments working on political discussion. 37% of Americans stated that they think business and politics should not mix and should be kept distinct from each other. About 65% of Americans believe companies should be transparent about their political donations so employees have knowledge of the company’s political affiliation.
