Election stress takes heavy toll on worker wellbeing, productivity

It’s not just candidates and campaign managers who are feeling stress with the November election less than a month away. Increased absenteeism and lost productivity attributed to political divisiveness costs organizations with more than 10,000 employees nearly $1 million a week, according to new research from coaching platform BetterUp.

“Elections and politically tense moments decrease productivity and wellbeing at work, with a substantial financial toll that business leaders should be aware of this election season,” the research report said. “Despite historical trends, the data suggest we are imperfect affective forecasters of election stress, given how rapidly political tension in the workplace appears to be increasing over the past several months. Failing to anticipate stress makes it challenging for leaders to prepare employees. Further, as stress related to political discussion at work intensifies, trust among colleagues is eroding, with a high interpersonal cost, potentially complicating collaboration.”

Among the key findings of the research:

• Rising political stress and generational trends. In June, 24% of employees reported feeling politics-related stress at work, but that number surged to 30% by September, tracking along the predicted 42% increase expected in November. Generationally, baby boomers, Gen X and millennials reported increased stress at work because of political issues between June and September, with only Generation Z reporting a drop in stress.
• Political talk erodes workforce wellbeing and connection. The week before the 2022 midterm and 2020 presidential elections saw workforce wellbeing drop by up to 6% and productivity drop by 2%. In August 2024, two-thirds of employees who overheard political talk at least several times a week wanted to avoid certain coworkers, up dramatically from 28% in June.
• Workers look to a connected, neutral approach. Seven in 10 workers want organizations to stay politically neutral, and 61% expect them to focus on employee wellbeing and culture instead. Employees who feel a strong sense of belonging and receive wellbeing support from their organization experience approximately 30% less politics-related stress compared to employees who lack these resources.

The consensus among workers in a MyPerfrectResume survey is that political discussions have no place in the workplace. When asked whether employers should limit or discourage political discussions at work as the presidential election approaches, 9 in 10 workers agreed, with 71% of those saying these discussions should be limited and 18% saying employers should discourage them.

This desire to limit political conversations in the workplace may be linked to the pressure many workers feel to discuss their views. When asked whether they believe vocal political beliefs or activism outside of work could lead to negative repercussions from their employer, 79% said yes. The age of participants also influenced their opinions about expressing political views. Younger workers reported more apprehension than their older counterparts, with 95% of workers aged 25 or younger expressing concern that their political beliefs or activism could have negative repercussions in the workplace, compared to 75% of workers aged 26 or older. More than 8 in 10 respondents regretted engaging in such discussions.

Related: Employees hide their political beliefs at work, study finds

Managers can have a significant impact on reducing stress and promoting a healthy work environment, the BetterUp research found. High-performing managers, as rated by their direct reports, significantly reduce the negative impact of political discussions in the workplace. The most positive manager behaviors to adopt to limit the negative impact of politics include coaching, recognition, encouraging participation and a problem-solving approach to conflict resolution. The most damaging behavior is ignoring or dismissing workers’ concerns or issues, even above and beyond coercion and intimidation.

Despite varied preferences for organizational responses across the political spectrum, the consensus is that organizations need to stay neutral. At the same time, there is an expectation for organizations to pay attention to employees’ wellbeing and culture. Beyond short-term interventions, organizations need long-term investment in culture and belonging to weather future political disruption.

“To mitigate these effects, our research guides organizations to show up neutral but connected — a tall but necessary order,” the report concluded. “Empowering managers, the key drivers of organizational change, to focus on specific behaviors, including coaching, recognition and team participation, will help limit the negative impact of politics in the workplace.”