Companies are hoping workers can influence politicians to cut back the amount of costly regulations. (Image: Shutterstock)
More companies are urging their employees to also be their lobbyists, according Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, an assistant professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, and the author of "Politics at Work: How Companies Turn their Workers into Lobbyists."
Hertel-Fernandez commissioned a survey of 1,032 workers, and found that a quarter say that they have heard about politics from their bosses. He also surveyed business leaders who ranked mobilization of employees as being about as effective at changing policy as hiring lobbyists — and even more effective than making PAC contributions.
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"Businesses, like other political interests, don't always get what they want," Hertel-Fernandez writes in The Washington Post. "But this new grass-roots game gives businesses a greater edge in elections and legislative debates. To understand why businesses seem to get what they want so often in politics, we need to look beyond campaign contributions or lobbying and consider why and when employers mobilize their workers."
There are several reasons why companies are increasingly urging employees to either lobby on behalf of the company's political interests or contribute to the campaigns of supportive politicians, according to Hertel-Fernandez. For one, companies are hoping workers can influence politicians to cut back the amount of costly regulations. It's also much easier now for companies to communicate to employees about politics using software platforms, and companies can even to track whether those workers take the suggested actions.
"Nor do employers have to worry about competing messages in the workplace," Hertel-Fernandez writes. "A generation ago, unions might have been delivering opposing messages on the same policies or candidates. But the private-sector labor movement has collapsed, making that much less likely today."
Many workers actually don't mind lobbying for their employers, HRDive writes, citing a recent Glassdoor poll showing that 84 percent of respondents want employers to take a stand on regulations, legislation and presidential executive orders that could impact their lives and their employers' businesses.
But it also goes both ways, according to HRDive: employees are also increasingly expecting their organizations to take a stand on certain issues or at least allow for their support of causes.
"Employers need to tread carefully in encouraging a politically outspoken workplace, however," HRDive writes. "Remember how charged up the office atmosphere can get running right before and after a presidential election? Employees may need to be reminded about proper time and place, and civility should be encouraged at all times."
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Katie Kuehner-Hebert
Katie Kuehner-Hebert is a freelance writer based in Running Springs, Calif. She has more than three decades of journalism experience, with particular expertise in employee benefits and other human resource topics.
