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Anonymous

12/29/19 at 5:34PM UTC

Management

How to get out of political conversations at work

I have landed a new job and I really enjoy the work place. I get along with most of my colleagues there but I have noticed a pretty irritating downside. My colleagues talk religion and politics pretty frequently. I"m talking usually anywhere from 20-30 minutes per day. They bash people who view differently than them (they know that I view things differently and then later apologize to me sometimes after they're done). I usually just give neutral answers and disengage but it's getting really annoying. I can't go to HR because 1) we don't have one and 2) the woman who is considered HR is one of the worst offenders of these heated political conversations. It's not that they view things differently than I do (I'm an adult and people have differences). I just personally don't like bringing in potentially inflammatory topics to the workplace. I was raised to not talk about Salary, Religion or Politics in everyday conversations because it can cause a lot of tension. I also find that it leads to a lot of bias and unnecessary assumptions about people and can prevent people from creating quality connections. Right now our office is under construction and all of our offices are next to one another which can be the main source of discomfort. I will have my own office in about 2-4 months and it will be away from everyone else. But I need to figure out how I can deal with people constantly venting to me about politics and some other NSFW topics. Do you have any advice on what I can do?

Join the conversation...

Anonymous

01/06/20 at 9:51PM UTC

Use humor to redirect the conversation! I like to bring up SNL skits (or whatever else might be relevant based on the topic at hand).

bfazi216

Strategic Merchant

01/04/20 at 4:02PM UTC

Very simple...Just say calmly & respectfully ”I do not discuss politics”. Excuse yourself & exit. Be brief, be calm & be gone!

Keri Wilson

792

Business Excellence Consultant

12/31/19 at 8:26PM UTC

How long have you been there? This may be the change curve at it's most ruthless. The "valley of despair" happens all the time and this valley is a doozy! And you can get through it! This also occurs as humanity at their most charming (not). I like all the ideas for refocusing, redirecting, or simply releasing yourself from the conversation. Now breathe and bear with me on this one: pretend you landed on some strange island in the middle of an undisclosed island and these are the people who live here. They have different ways of being. You were "raised" to not talk about certain things, and they were not (so it seems). In fact, you are the wrong one here and yet you're making them wrong. This, my friend, is a perfect "diversity challenge". Check your bias at the door and see if you can hang in for a little while longer. If nothing else, you'll have good "worst co-workers ever" story for some day. Good luck!

Lucinda Jackson

Author, Business Executive, Scientist.

12/31/19 at 7:25AM UTC

I have used the following: "Well, I know we won't solve all that here today! So I'd better get back to work! Talk to you later!"

Stephanie Koehler

291

Data loving storyteller

12/31/19 at 2:12AM UTC

If I was in this position, I would be upfront and polite with my colleagues. I’d say something like, “I’m not a fan of discussing politics at work” and change the subject to something you are interested in. Image that instead of politics they are talking endlessly about how much they love cats. You wouldn’t be offending anyone to be like, “oh, not into cats but have read this article about something tangentially related.”

Chandra Gupta

P vs NP solver, Scientist, Software Engineer

12/30/19 at 8:27PM UTC

I agree - this is a management issue and not something for any one employee to take initiative on. Raise the topic and distaste with your upper manager if you have one; if you are the manager then consider the following steps: 1) Send out a request for all to blog on whether or not inflammatory topics should be allowed at work from a culture perspective. Do employees view it as good or bad and keep numbers. 2) Take the employee numbers and now have a management meeting to devise a policy. The management meeting must decide on whether or not a policy is needed and what the policy should be. 3) The policy might be as simple as all assembly of more than 3 people must have a business purpose and meeting notes must be taken and reported. 4) The policy could be more specific and state exactly what topics are not acceptable on work premises and why as well as what disciplinary actions will be taken. 5) When the HR lead is the one making the most inflammatory remarks it may be to rouse and provoke employees to take initiative, to raise complaints!!!! Check back with your manager and see what your manager suggests you should do.

Anonymous

12/31/19 at 3:27PM UTC

I wish I could complain to my manager and ask them to help develop a policy around this but they also talk about religion and politics on the regular. It’s a very small company and I just started so I can’t raise too much ruckus because I’m going to look like the whiny new girl. I also have noticed that the CEO is never really around so even if it were taken to upper management nothing would ever be done about it. The lack of structure and communication issues is really irritating me and left me wondering if I should get back on the hunt again. I can’t afford another short stint on my resume so my goal is to make it to a year and then start looking for something else.

Chandra Gupta

P vs NP solver, Scientist, Software Engineer

01/01/20 at 1:17AM UTC

Hmm... my roles have evolved where as the new person joining my job is to bring in changes and make the team aware of what is current in the workplace; i.e. I'm not complaining - i'm doing my job in noting what irritates me and raising it to my manager. It sounds like you are playing it safe and keeping your job and the strategy is sound; the only thing is that if the company is small then they already know that you're irritated but not speaking up. That may or may not irritate them - that's for you to discover while you still play out your job-keeping-strategy.

ANDREA HERRERA

508

Human Resources Leader living in NYC

12/30/19 at 3:15PM UTC

This should be a conversation that leadership has with the entire team.... there are some topics that should be off limits in the workplace. Religion and politics are among them. Especially if people are unable to have respectful conversations with people who disagree. IF that doesn't happen, I wonder if you could identify one or two of the "leaders" privately and ask if they can more respectfully talk about people who disagree with their views. Also redirecting the conversations to other topics are a great idea.

Anonymous

12/31/19 at 3:36PM UTC

I’m definitely going to try to redirect the conversations. I wish I could put my faith in leadership but everything here is pretty disorganized so having any type of adult conversation isn’t going to go anywhere and is going to make people upset despite it being in the best interest of the company. I wish they had me as their PR person and not a marketing coordinator. I’d be able to change things real quick!

Annetta Moses

1.31k

Consumer Insights and Strategy Leader

12/30/19 at 5:35AM UTC

Consider cutting off the conversation. When someone stops by your desk to discuss a topic you don't want to talk about, say "Thanks for stopping by to talk. Right now I need to focus on this work, and I don't have time to chat. We can catch up later." Then return to your work. In the spirit of getting to know your co-workers, try to stop by their desk with a topic you want to talk about that they may be interested in discussing. For example, if they like movies, books, or sports -- ask them about that.

Anonymous

12/31/19 at 3:38PM UTC

I created a door hanger that says “creative genius at work, please do not interrupt” so I have less people coming into my office to chat about pointless things and politics. I’m going to see if I can come Up with a solid tactic to get people to switch topics so this is less of an issue.

Susan Smoter

1.46k

Burning desire to make the working world better

12/30/19 at 6:24PM UTC

I really like and completely agree with this advice to start conversations on safe topics. In this manner, you can avoid uncomfortable topics, but still be engaged with the other people. I'd love to know how this works out.