The Virginian-Pilot
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Hank Luhring invited congressional candidates to speak to the staff of his Virginia Beach software company.
A Richmond executive, Genevieve Roberts, hung a bumper sticker of the presidential candidate she supports in her office.
Only one got flak and regretted getting too political.
The workplace hasn't avoided the high-strung campaign debate polarizing the nation this year. Thirty-nine percent of people polled last month by Fierce Inc., a Seattle-based training company, said they had seen an office political discussion morph into "a personal attack."
The tensions are likely to escalate this week with a crescendo of ads and arguments before Tuesday's election. Afterward, get ready for the crowing of the victors' supporters - and the bellyaching of the losers.
If your break room has sounded like the screaming TV political talk shows this year, CEOs and consultants say common sense and vigilance can go a long way toward keeping the peace the next campaign season.
Bosses, they say, shouldn't lobby for candidates or buttonhole workers for their opinions. "I don't go around looking to engage associates in political conversation," Joe Thomas, regional vice president for the Geico insurance company, said last week.
But neither should they prohibit political chatter in the workplace. "It's much like if you take candy away from a child - he wants more," said Roberts, a partner with Titan Group LLC, a human resources consulting firm in Richmond.
The trouble is, "some people cannot stay calm about these issues," said Rozanne "Roze" Worrell, a Norfolk-based workplace and career consultant who writes a column for WVEC-TV's website. If a company has workers who get emotional about politics, a manager should address the issue during a regularly scheduled meeting before the campaign season, she advised. "Let employees know ahead of time that discussion that is not respectful or thoughtful of others will not be tolerated."
To make sure the message sticks, Thomas Lucas, an employment lawyer with Jackson Lewis LLP in Norfolk, suggested that employee handbooks guarantee a "respectful, politically neutral work environment" and prohibit "solicitation of fellow employees."
For their part, employees should feel free to discuss why they think President Barack Obama or Republican challenger Mitt Romney would better propel the economy, Roberts said. They shouldn't disparage a colleague for thinking differently or lobby him to switch his choice. If a worker is on the receiving end of a brow-beating conversation, she said, he should ask the election bully to stop the political harassment. If that doesn't work, go to the boss.
Not every workplace has been rife with partisan bickering. "I think politics is not high on the list of interests for most of our employees," said William Bischoff, a Democratic activist and attorney with Bischoff Martingayle in Virginia Beach.
At Luhring's Beach software company, IssueTrak, "I happen to know of one person who's very strong for Obama - this person is openly gay - and then I know of other people who are very strong for Romney, very conservative, very Tea Party," the CEO said. "They work together and get along great. They choose not to bring things up to disrupt the good work environment we have."
Sometimes bosses start the political conversation.
The New York Times reported that some CEOs, none in Hampton Roads, sent letters to workers endorsing Romney.
David Siegel, chief executive of Westgate Resorts, based in Orlando, Fla., wrote, "The economy doesn't currently pose a threat to your job," according to The Times. "What does threaten your job, however, is another four years of the same presidential administration." That, he said, could lead to tax increases, forcing Westgate to cut its workforce.
To Bischoff, such actions are "reprehensible," making workers feel they have to vote for a candidate to keep their jobs.
"I would in no way ever, nor have we ever, in our 27 years, encouraged staff members to vote a particular way," he said. "I think that's over the line."
Two years ago, Luhring invited Scott Rigell, then the Republican candidate for the U.S. House, to talk to employees, more about his business career than the election. Luhring heard a few gripes that the talk got too political.
To even the political scales, Luhring recently invited Paul Hirschbiel, the Democrat challenging Rigell this year for his seat. Afterward, he said, one employee complained: "Can you believe he supports Obamacare?"
"I thought, 'Wait a minute. I don't want to get involved in this. Let's sell some software to customers, instead.' " Luhring said he won't again invite candidates to the office.
Roberts, with the Richmond consulting firm, decided to display a bumper sticker of the presidential candidate she's backing in her office. She declined to say who it was, but she said she made up her mind after seeing the first presidential debate and attending a Republican event.
"Before I put it there, I was really questioning, 'Should I do this or not?' " Roberts said. "I'm not going out there saying, 'You should vote this way or that way.' If anything, I was hoping it would encourage conversation."
She said she hasn't gotten any reaction.
The day after the election, partisans on both sides could be particularly insufferable. What to do then?
"You're going to have to let the victors celebrate and the losers commiserate," Roberts said. "It's affecting everyone's lives. You can't sweep it under the rug." But "if it goes over the line, it would be addressed the same way as it would before."
What about Roberts' bumper sticker?
It'll come down that day, she said, no matter who wins.
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Philip Walzer, 757-222-3864,phil.walzer@pilotonline.com
Source: http://hamptonroads.com/2012/11/political-differences-can-divide-employees
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