Controversial US election stirs up emotions run up everywhere – including at work.

Political and social tensions have driven workplace incivility to record highs this year, according to the report a survey from SHRM HR Group. As U.S. voters finish choosing a new president today, many are also bracing for plenty of tense conversations with colleagues — either around the water cooler in person or via Zoom and other digital platforms.

“It’s getting hot in here,” says Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM’s president and CEO.

Taylor and other HR experts attribute some of the growing anxiety about political minefields in the workplace to this year’s unprecedented presidential contest between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. They also blame the persistent shadow of the violence on January 6, 2021, when a group of Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol.

That violence sent a message that “you have permission not only to disagree with someone, but to physically hurt someone because of their political affiliation,” Taylor says.

For employers, there is more at stake than workplace harmony. US businesses lose $2.17 billion a day due to reduced productivity and absenteeism related to incivility, SHRM estimates.

Now HR executives are bracing for many weeks of uncertainty and workplace disagreements over US policy. After all, it could be days before the country knows the results of the presidential election — and months before the next US president takes office.

“There’s definitely a potential for increased tensions and increased speech,” says Amy Schwind, an attorney at Lowenstein Sandler who advises employers. “So how can you, as an employer, best navigate and minimize the potential for disruption?”

Here are three ways she and other HR experts suggest businesses and their employees can prepare in the workplace for today’s election and its aftermath.

1. You can try to ban political talk in the workplace – but don’t expect it to be easy

In the past few years, some prominent employers have explicitly banned political discussion in their workplaces.

Crypto platform Coinbase did in 2020, controversially telling the employees not to “internal political issues or candidates unrelated to work.” Google followed suit this spring after DRAWING dozens of employees who had protested its business dealings with the Israeli government.

But human resources experts who spoke to NPR said such blanket bans are often difficult to enforce in practice.

“It’s very difficult to manage,” says Taylor. “As human beings, Americans talk about politics or social issues — and because all social issues ultimately feel like political conversations, I don’t know how you apply that.”

Supporters of both presidential candidates, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, have a conversation on October 29, 2024 in Pittsburgh.

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Some employers say they want to encourage workers to air their differences — in the right circumstances and with respect for each other.

“Part of building bridges is having conversations,” says Melissa Anderson, director of people and transformation for chemical maker Albemarle.

Her company, which is the world’s largest lithium producer, has created employee resource groups and hosted internal conversations about current events affecting employees.

“At this time when people feel less safe, the best way for them to manage their emotions is to feel like they have a safe place to talk about it,” says Anderson.

2. Create a policy on how to talk about politics in the workplace

Ignoring an issue rarely works out well in the long run – and regardless of the outcome of this US presidential election, it won’t be the last time politics becomes a workplace flashpoint. So if your office hasn’t already figured out the rules for how employees should interact around these tense topics, it’s never too late to start.

“Companies need to proactively sit down and think about their policy,” says Taylor. “Chances are good that there (will be) an act of incivility or disagreement, up to and including violence. So how are we going to deal with this?”

Schwind adds that employers also need to think about how they define the workplace, given how many employees work remotely or interact with colleagues online and through social media.

“There is the potential for things that employees say on their own personal social networks to be seen by their colleagues and cause problems,” she says.

Vice President Kamala Harris takes on former President Trump.

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Photos by Scott Olson/Getty Images (Harris) and Bill Pugliano/Getty Images (Trump)

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Businesses that have already instituted and communicated workplace policies on social media, harassment and discrimination are in the best position to get through this tumultuous week, says Schwind.

“These are all things that should have been put in place long before this election and that employees should be following,” she says.

3. Prepare for uncertainty and unproductiveness – and maybe cancel some meetings

With partisan sentiment and anxiety over the outcome of the election, the costs to mental health — and office productivity — are rising.

For example, SHRM estimates that every time someone experiences an act of political incivility at work, it takes them more than half an hour to regain focus. As Taylor says, “That has a direct impact on productivity.”

Some employers take more drastic measures to reduce the possibility of workplace confrontations over politics. Taylor says he recently spoke with a business that cancels meetings on Wednesdays and Thursdays so employees who voted for different candidates aren’t forced to interact.

He adds that this employer compared the US election and its impact on workers to another national event – ​​if one that is generally more festive and lower-stakes.

“They compared it to the day after the Super Bowl,” Taylor says. “We know nothing will be done.”