We’re less than three months away from Election Day in America, which is shaping up to be one of the most contentious elections in recent memory. Besides the usual political issues at hand, this election season has also seen the attempted assassination of the Republican nominee as well as the nearly unprecedented move of seeing the incumbent president and presumptive Democratic nominee step aside in favor of his VP.
All this lends to people wanting to talk about politics even more than usual, including in the workplace. However, a recent survey from Indeed and Harris Poll shows that when it comes to politics at work, it may be best for companies if personal political opinions stay muted—especially those of the CEO.
The survey, which aimed to delve into how employees feel about politics in the workplace, revealed that 40% of Gen Z and millennial workers aged 18-34 said they would leave their company if its CEO expressed political views that they disagreed with. Almost 40% of workers in the same age range also stated they would leave their jobs due to political differences in the workplace.
As Indeed noted, “The fact that almost half of us would rather quit our jobs over politically charged fractions than be open to respectfully coexisting is a telling sign of just how divisive we’ve become.”
In addition to the striking stats above, the survey also found that:
- 35% of respondents admitted to openly discussing politics in their workplace.
- 44% said they overheard their colleagues discussing politics at work.
- 54% said they are uncomfortable when politics come up in workplace discussions.
- 34% said politics in the workplace had negatively affected team morale.
- 16% admitted to avoiding colleagues who had different political views than them.
When it comes to job seeking, 60% of respondents said they prefer jobs with companies whose CEOs share their political alignment. Additionally, 39% of respondents said they felt pressure to conform to certain political views at work. Another 39% said they have been discriminated against or harassed at work for their political views.
Finally, don’t think remote work can nullify these political issues in the workplace: 16% of respondents who participated in remote meetings reported seeing signs of a colleague’s political affiliation in their videoconferencing feed. These signs may include things like mugs featuring a political party logo or a campaign sticker for a candidate.
The survey was conducted for Indeed by The Harris Poll. 1,141 U.S. employees aged 18 and above were polled between July 30 and August 1, 2024.