Dear Abby: Politics in the Workplace

[cereta]

DEAR ABBY: I work in close quarters with two women. They often talk politics, and I am very aware of their views. They asked me if I was voting in the midterms, and I answered in the affirmative, but offered no details as my vote is my personal business.

Since then, I have been told, You are part of the problem. People like you ... and, It must be nice to not care. I don't know how to respond to these hurtful comments, which make me feel terrible. It makes me extremely uncomfortable, and I don't think it's appropriate to discuss this at work in the first place.

I am not sure how to handle this if it continues. I don't want these women to hate me. I respect them, but this is a sensitive topic. -- NOT THE PLACE

DEAR NOT THE PLACE: I agree that, for the most part, discussing politics in the workplace is inappropriate because there are bound to be disagreements, which are not conducive to a pleasant environment. Hopefully, now that the midterms are behind us, the hostility will die down -- at least for a while.

If it persists, tell your co-workers that what they are doing is hurtful and you want them to stop. And if they don't, then discuss it with your supervisor or employer because what they are doing is creating a hostile working environment.

Comments

[minoanmiss]

I say this as a flaming liberal whose last work environment was distressingly conservative (oh, medical people, why so retrograde) -- they should not do this to her, they should know better, and I really hope her supervisor can help. If they're liberal I kind of want to scold them. (If they're conservative they'd never listen to the likes of me anyway.)

[likeaduck]

Do we know the LW’s gender? Did I miss that?

[minoanmiss]

... Good point. for some reason I envisioned the LW and coworkers as three women, but I think that was my brain and not what was written. Amend my comment with "they" instead of "she" and so on.

[zaracat]

I think if the LW was a woman, they'd have said they work with "two other women" and not just "two women"

[watersword]

Abby, the term "hostile working environment" has a specific legal meaning, and it does not apply here.

[jadelennox]

Good point. It *is* a shitty working environment, though, and they shouldn't do it.

[watersword]

Oh, sure. But this is purely a social problem, not a legal one.

[cereta]

I feel like there are two separate issues, here. One is the conversations taking place within the LW's hearing, and the other is the direct confrontations.

There is really no question that the direct confrontations need to stop. As much as I suspect I'm more in line with the co-workers, and as much as I suspect I would agree with what they're saying, they should not be saying it in an environment where the LW is unable simply to get up and leave. Assuming LW is not voicing any of their own views or bringing up topics that might lead here (this, btw, is the fine line I walk in my classroom when students bring up topics that are either overtly or implicitly political), they should not be directly confronting the LW in that space.

The first question, about co-workers having conversations in the workplace, is a little thornier because it can be a slippery slope. "I am uncomfortable hearing people talk about these things" can apply to a plethora of things. If the LW does not have to be interacting with others regularly, either in person or on the phone, noise-cancelling headphones may be the best option. If that is not an option, and the LW truly feels under siege, they may wish to focus on volume and distraction rather than the topic. Simply saying, "no politics in the workplace" is really, really hard when the political is very personal (says the person anticipating a number of questions about how her spouse and husband are navigating the shutdown when school reconvenes Monday, and who does not particularly promise to give bland, neutral answers).

[shirou]

"You choose to discuss politics at work, and I respect your right to make that choice. I choose not to discuss politics at work, and you need to respect my choice and avoid making assumptions about me based on that choice. You are wrong about me. I do care. I just prefer to keep my professional life and my political life separate."

[xenacryst]

I'm mostly with everyone else here, but one thing is niggling me - what was the cause of the comments, "You are part of the problem. People like you ... and, It must be nice to not care." That's not an out-of-the-blue comment, that's a direct response to something, and the LW doesn't say what. If it's in response to perceived social differences (gender, race, class) rather than something specific that the LW said, then my sympathy lies with the LW, but if it's in response to specific things that the LW has said or done that telegraph their political leanings, then they also need to cool it with the political stuff.

I'd mostly agree that it's best not to discuss politics in the workplace, but little things can spill over, especially at the current time. If LW is finding these things as uncomfortable as they say they are, they might want to look at themselves and figure out why that's the case.