Millennial employees are the age demographic most likely to be OK with talking politics around the office watercooler.
That’s just one of the results from a February survey of more than 5,000 Americans by research firm Peakon, published online Sunday.
“Millennials (18-34) from all political affiliations and genders are the happiest age group to talk about politics at work (68%),” according to Peakon. By contrast, only 62 percent of those aged 55-64 were comfortable voicing their political opinions in the office, the survey found.
Overall 66 percent of respondents across all age groups were comfortable expressing their political views.
Peakon also found men of both major parties are equally comfortable in discussing politics, while women who voted for Donald Trump are more reticent to discuss their views than women who voted for Hillary Clinton.
A full 38 percent of Trump women were uncomfortable talking politics on the job, 4 percentage points higher than the 34 percent of Americans overall who would rather not talk politics with coworkers.
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“[I]t’s clear that tensions are still running high, with one-third of Americans fearing any sort of political debate in their place of work,” Peakon co-founder Dan Rogers said in a company news release.
The findings present a challenge to managers to create a comfortable work environment for workers of all political persuasions, particularly in an incredibly divided political environment.
“Diversity is often thought about in quite narrow terms, such as age and gender,” Mr. Rogers said. “But there are many more ways that a company can be diverse, one of which is political opinion.
“Great managers are able to encourage their teams to be respectful of diversity and build a culture where everybody feels comfortable voicing their opinion. Whether the opinion is related to work, or current affairs, the best teams are able to discuss any issue in a constructive way,” he said.
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