Election Stresses Could Impact Worker Productivity. Here’s What You Need to Know–and How to Manage It
 

Election Stresses Could Impact Worker Productivity. Here’s What You Need to Know–and How to Manage It

Here’s how you could help boost your team’s productivity during a fraught election week.

Photo: Getty Images

Although Election Day is over, tuning out political tensions and anxieties could be an ever-challenging feat for employees–or a flat-out fruitless endeavor. And without a plan for handling political tensions at work, your team’s productivity could suffer.

Historically, the week before U.S. elections, both employee well-being and productivity falter, according to data from BetterUp, the mental health and coaching company. But this year’s presidential election has been especially close – and contentious – finish, with a final national NBC News poll showing a 49 percent-49 percent split for Harris and Trump. And that could add additional strain.

“No matter the outcome, roughly half the people will be upset in our country,” says Jennifer Dulski, 52, founder and CEO of Rising Team, a Palo Alto, California-based team development platform, and a lecturer in management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Already, heightened political tensions have infiltrated U.S. workplaces: In October, 30 percent of managers said that they observed “that political disagreements are distracting employees and reducing overall output,” according to a survey from the job-seeking site ResumeBuilder.com.

But employers can take proactive steps in fielding conflict in the workplace and getting ahead of potential productivity problems. “Work can’t entirely stop just because we have a tough election, and I think it’s fine for managers to explain that,” Dulski says.

First, leaders can remind employees about their “shared humanity,” the company’s purpose, and their shared values, Dulski says: “This is a good time to remind people that — this is kind of traditional parenting advice — all feelings, all opinions, and perspectives are welcome, and all behaviors are not.”

If an employee is struggling to complete work during this election week, she adds, leaders should avoid the common pitfall of assuming they know the root of the problem without asking. Dulski recommends first asking the employee how they are doing, and then working together to find a solution, like perhaps pushing off a few non-urgent deadlines to next week.

“Rethink how you set expectations and then try to accommodate in ways that are reasonable,” Dulski says.

In short, simply ignoring or avoiding election tension isn’t a great solution, Dulski says. She’s therefore wary of companies implementing remote work this week for just that purpose: 47 percent of companies implementing remote weeks for Election week are doing so in hopes of “reducing workplace stress and tension,” according to the ResumeBuilder.com survey.

“Being able to get through conflict as a team is important,” Dulski says, “regardless of what it may be.”

Shared Humanity

Reminding every team member of the company’s purpose, or reason for being, along with the importance of their role in the companies success, is important in helping to refocus team members thoughts. Also addressing that we are all different but we come together as a shared humanity to deliver the best possible experience, product and service to the customer. This approach helps to eliminate the we / they culture that we have experienced lately.

At this point we would normally close each article with a service focus we offer, that would measure whatever was addressed in the article. This time we will close with “just be kind” and continue to be the best you can be.

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SARAH LYNCH AND CARL PHILLIPS