Create a culture of belonging (to bridge the political, social divide in the workplace)

Over the past two years, political and social issues have increasingly crept into the workplace and more than half (58%) of employees note their employers are taking a stance on these issues. This approach, however, is not always welcomed by everyone in an organization.

While 63% of employees state they’re comfortable discussing social and political issues, they don’t necessarily want their employer to take a firm stance on the issues. There’s almost an even split between employees who prefer their organization didn’t vocalize their stance on political and social issues and those that prefer their employer to address them in some capacity.

Despite the differences of opinion on this issue and any other, there are ways for organizations that value inclusion and belonging to create an environment where employees can discuss how issues affect them personally and professionally – one that aligns with internal and external communication initiatives:

• Create ways to give: When crisis strikes, people want to make a difference. Organizations with accessible giving programs help employees satisfy their desire to make an impact as well as help companies support the causes employees care about – without having to make a stand as an organization themselves. When an organization wants to support a cause, event, or political or social issue, they can do so by highlighting a nonprofit within their giving database or matching donations to it. Creating internal and external campaigns around those causes can show public support for the things employees care about most. Additionally, providing employees with a way to give improves organizational belonging and benefits individuals who want to do good.
• Offer volunteer time: Similar to giving programs, offering paid volunteer time is critical for organizational belonging and seen as a key benefit. Supporting employees’ ability to use their own time to help others, without financial burden, puts the power in the hands of the employees to support the causes they care about. People’s need to share is innate. With volunteer programs, companies should consider a way for employees to share their experiences in an intranet, Slack/Teams groups, employee recognition software, social media campaigns, etc. This creates an environment of open discussion based on how employees gave their time.
• Avoid real-time reactions: The benefits of social media for organizations – reach, real-time access – can also be its downfall. When organizations feel pressured to react to every current event in real-time, they risk alienating customers, employees and the wider public. Working with marketing, business leaders can proactively address the types of community, political, social or world events they should aim for immediacy with. This even protects the social media manager themselves – reducing their human need for reacting and placing their own beliefs on that of the organization. In other words, an organization is what they “like.”
• Provide training: A clear sign of a healthy organizational culture is the ability for teams and leadership to have open lines of communication. If discussions – of any kind – lack empathy or respect for opposing opinions, training can help. Having a learning management system recommend or routinely surface learning opportunities goes a long way for employees and employers for personal and professional skill building. Additionally, routine learning events can provide a path for small “roundtable” discussions to create an environment of open discussion. Manager training shouldn’t be overlooked either. Leaders must be able to empathetically navigate a team’s emotional state around political or social crises.

When selecting a charity or cause to put an organization’s name and resources behind, doing the greatest good for the greatest impact can be a good philosophy to adopt. When in doubt, lead with empathy, and give employees a way to show they care and share what they care about. Proactively providing ways for employees to communicate and connect with each other, on even the most sensitive topics, reduces the need to react wrongly and alienate stakeholders in the process.

Amy Mosher is chief people officer at isolved.