Survey: Almost half of American workers report a political disagreement at work

A new survey suggests the American workplace is becoming increasingly political.

The Society for Human Resource Management recently found that nearly one in five Americans have quit a job in the past five years because of a toxic workplace culture.  SHRM's new "Politics at Work" survey dives deeper into workplace culture and examines the role politics now plays.

The research suggests the rise of political conflicts at work could cause employees to become disengaged and create a toxic atmosphere for people who are just trying to work.

According to the survey, 42% of American employees have personally experienced political disagreements at work.

A majority of respondents (56%) SHRM say politics, and political discussion, has become more common in the past four years.

Thirty four percent say their workplace is not inclusive of differing political perspectives and 12% report having personally experienced political affiliation bias.

News 96.5 WDBO spoke with SHRM’s CEO and President Johnny C. Taylor, Jr. about the survey.  He said managers have to be properly equipped to handle workplace disagreements.

“You can’t on one hand say we value diverse perspectives, but then shut it down when those people want to have those conversations in the workplace.  Our best goal is to ensure that people have the tools to facilitate those conversations such that they occur in a civil way, because incivility leads to toxic workplaces, which leads to significant turnover and hurts employers,” said Taylor.