It’s not easy. For most of us,
work is where we spend the majority of our waking hours. The people we share
our cubicles and offices with begin, over time, to blur our understanding of
the lines between colleagues and friends. In this environment, a silent killer has emerged.
Most of the lines we know not to
cross are clear. Everyone with a brain in their head knows that there is no role in the workplace for sex, violence, religious proselytizing or racial
language. These we simply recognize as universally accepted conventions of
modern life.
In one of life’s minor ironies, what
‘political correctness’ fails to address is the only thing we could really use
some clarity on – to what extent is it correct to be political?
Is bringing political views into the workplace, including visible support for causes of all kinds, acceptable? Or is it no better than
bringing in pornography or handing out copies of the Book of Mormon? Both of
these can be defended with first amendment arguments.
LeBron James and the Miami Heat in hoodies last Thursday |
Where does politics sit on the spectrum of acceptable
workplace behavior? Should you support or highlight any political cause in a
professional environment? What are the benefits of supporting a cause at work?
The answers are: Nowhere, No and None.
The best advice anyone who works in the field of employment
can give you is that you leave your politics at home. At the end of the day,
the philosophical arguments around your right to express your views are far
less relevant than the practical considerations that make these expressions
extremely unwise. Here are six reasons to keep your job and career politics free.
It’s not what you’re
there for
Above all other things, there is
an overriding principal that cannot be ignored. Our behavior at work must be
governed by the fact that someone is paying us to be here, and probably not to
have political conversations, or inspire others to have them.
Even if we’re not ethically
required to keep our personal opinions away from the work place, we are obliged
to limit our activities to those for which we take the pay check.
It is far more likely
to do you harm than good
People are offended far more
easily than they are impressed. For example, on your way in to work tomorrow
morning when you pass the front desk security person, at whom you normally
smile politely, wave boisterously and call out ‘Hi John! How are you doing?’
Then tomorrow morning, at exactly the same moment, shout an expletive at him. A
year from now, ask him which one he remembers. When you offend someone, knowingly or
unknowingly, it lingers. One positive interaction with you does not cancel out one
negative one. It’s called politics for a reason: it divides people. However
safe your issue, someone somewhere will be offended. How will that affect their
professional interactions with you?
You don’t know what you don’t know.
Politics has filled more cardboard boxes than many people realize. |
It’s not scalable.
Plugging your cause, whether it’s political or charitable
simply isn’t realistic if everyone does it. Seven hundred people with one cause
a year means two causes every day. You’ve just destroyed the business you work
for.
Who died and made you
emperor?
What matters to us almost certainly doesn’t matter nearly as
much to others and we should have the humility to realize this. Who made you
the office’s moral guardian? You can’t choose your colleagues and they didn’t
choose you, they certainly didn’t elect you to tell them what they should care
about. You have no mandate.
What if the story
changes?
Attaching yourself to an uninvestigated cause could lead you
to look foolish later when a different narrative emerges. Your ‘John Smith is
innocent’ t-shirt will get you the most attention when John Smith pleads guilty
to ten murders. If you jump on the bandwagon, you may fall off. Your fortunes
in the perception of your colleagues will rise and fall with whoever you’re
supporting. (How’s that John Edwards for President poster in your office
looking now?)
Stay focused on what you’re at work to accomplish. It’s not
a question of ethics, or your rights – it’s a simple practical thing.
Whatever your professional aspirations – career progression,
promotion, more contracts, more money, freedom and flexibility – espousing your
political views will not help you achieve them.
Richard Spragg writes on various subjects including global engineering staffing and global engineering jobs.
Richard Spragg writes on various subjects including global engineering staffing and global engineering jobs.