Politics should be discussed in the workplace
I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but every technology company has the same political opinions. Support Ukraine. Putin is evil. Green energy is good for the world. Democrats are righteous. You get the drift.
So don't bring your "full self" to work. That's just going to get you cancelled. If you say anything remotely controversial, or outside the norm...well, it was good knowing you.
I can't tell you exactly what repercussions you're going to face, because I don't have the guts to voice any opinions at my work place either. I'm making PC jokes just like the next guy.
And maybe I'm wrong, but I have a vague sense that workplaces in the past weren't as tight lipped. And because people felt free to disagree and express their opinions, they saw the workplace as not only a place of work, but a fundamental pillar to a healthy society.
These days, with everyone remote, stepping out of line is dangerous. It's easier to nod and stay quiet. And so this is the reality of Corporate America, and most of Startup America and Indie America too.
Now, I don't want people to be contrarian for the sake of it. But it's clear to me that today that the technology industry has been beholden to one set of social and political ideas.
Why would you NOT buy my product?
Frankly, I don't agree with you at all. The reason why people don't talk about politics at work (most of the time) is the same reason they don't talk about sex or drugs. It's often creates unneeded division in a business. And when you are apart of a small company, or large corporation, the last thing you need is political turmoil to cause division between employees. It's hard enough to work together as it is.
I couldn't agree more. The goal of a team at work is to get the job done and make progress. As soon as you bring any division, it may impact the team and therefore, your deliverables.
If you make friends at work, it's totally fine to chat about politics outside the workplace (e.g. if you get drinks afterward) but I would not bring that into the workplace.
My general guideline has always been to bring your whole self to work. Focus on the mission, and deliver value: that's all that matters.
Politics, sex, and religion are hot button topics that people are only rarely capable of discussing with cool heads.
The optimist in me thinks that society at large will eventually develop the norms and practices necessary for this to change. But that day is not today, and it won't be tomorrow either. Talking politics at work will simply result in some of your employees feeling excluded, insulted, unsafe, or at best extremely distracted.
This is one of the reasons I don't like the "workplace as family" metaphor. A company is not a family. Even if it it was, these are topics that even families have to be careful discussing. I tread lightly discussing the different political/religious beliefs of my closest friends. So I'd rather just leave work for work.
I suppose there are some exceptions. The smaller and more homogeneous your team, the more free you are to have a "risky" culture. When IH was just me and Channing, we talked about everything. Nowadays we keep our personal convos to Telegram and our of our team Slack for the most part.
Also, there are plenty of businesses explicitly involved in politics, sex, and religion. I suppose they can't ban that kind of talk in the workplace, and they find ways to make it work. Most often by being homogeneous and hiring like-minded people.
I feel like the elephant in the room of the "politics in the workplace" debate is the fact that all businesses are quasi political entities: they all seek to change the world in some way, and so they all take on a point of view.
But here's the rub: the fact that the company stands for something doesn't mean that the company stands for anything.
And this is where I think people go off the rails. Our highly political mission at Indie Hackers would be undermined by a workplace culture where internal debates raged about totally separate political agendas. In fact that is part of what it means to be on a mission. You are on that mission as opposed to all of the other missions you could pursue.
So yes, you should discuss politics at the workplace… but they should be the politics of the mission you've agreed to collaborate on.
It depends.
Discussing anything even hard, emotionally charged topics is good as it sharpens your mind, provided people have adequate skills and mindset such as distance, flexibility, independence, critical thinking, openness, discerning mind. You discuss to share and engage, even learn, not to win an argument. Also, the buck stops with science, and science is not absolute truth just smart theories and supporting evidence.
I avoid discussing volatile topics with people who I know do not adhere to the above unless I want to spar with them. The latter scenario is not for the workplace, obviously.
highly recommend to read this: https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-is-a-mission-focused-company-af882df8804?gi=1dd3e90946d6
politics is a distraction and often a polarising one, companies which can't retain focus will loose in the long-term.
This kind of post is hilarious - though I wish it was kept to Twitter rather than invading here, as it has nothing to do with Indie Hacking.
Which of your opinions, exactly, are being censored at work? We know they're not /actually/ the ones about clean energy subsidies or income tax rates..
This comment was deleted 8 months ago.
playing devils advocate here @agota. But don't you think that IH is TOO positive? It's great that people here are nice and respectable to each other. I often see "congrats" or "kudos" under posts, but people sometimes seem hesitant to engage in open debate on substantive topics.
And let's face it, part of the reason why forums are interesting is because they have people sharing different points of view.
I'm not going to compare HN to IH, but HN seems more open to novel conversations on topics not 100% related to tech. :)
This comment was deleted 8 months ago.
Well these things should be discussed in spare time, i mean during break. For growth of a country every citizen should be political. Like i was shocked at the economic behavior of Joe Biden towards Africa. As we all know that Africa has the world largest growing population.
And in future USA should have good economic relations with Africa. Because due to rapid increase of population the chances of business growth in Afica is also great. I found an article very helpfull in this discussion, Give it a read at https://livenews24.co.za/what-a-joe-biden-presidency-will-mean-for-south-africas-economy/
I've actually noticed the opposite, at least in my experience. Most people used to steer clear of divisive topics like politics and religion at work. But with many companies now publicly signaling political leaning beliefs, the corporate culture is changing. If your company is taking sides you can't expect employees not to.
I find this interesting, as the company I'm working for is pretty political now given the recent events. And while I've seen people expressing their own opinions of it, it doesn't seem like everyone is comfortable just yet with it. I'm not sure how I feel about corporate culture becoming political. I'd rather just focus on the work at hand.
I'm with you. I'd rather focus on work than politics. I'd also rather run a company that way. It seems counterintuitive to me to alienate half of a potential customer base. But these are crazy times we're living in.
This comment was deleted a year ago.