More Than One-Third of Workers Discuss Politics at Work

According to a survey by CareerBuilder, 43% of workers expect they will be talking about this year’s presidential election with co-workers.

While most conversations around politics were good-natured or even-tempered, 23% of workers who have discussed politics at work reported they had a heated discussion or fight with a co-worker, boss or someone else higher up in the organization. One-in-10 workers said their opinion about a co-worker changed after they discovered that person’s political affiliation, with most stating it changed for the negative.

Men were more likely to share political opinions or commentary at the office. Forty-four percent of men discuss politics at work compared to 28% of women. Men were also more likely to report an altercation with a co-worker over opposing political views—25% compared to 19% of women.

Workers age 55 and older were the most likely to discuss politics at work while those under the age of 25 were the least likely:

• Ages 18-24 – 25%;
• Ages 25-34 – 30%;
• Ages 35-44 – 34%;
• Ages 45-54 – 40%; and
• Ages 55 and older – 43%.

Forty-six percent of workers believe the competitive nature of government politics is strikingly similar to that office politics. Nearly one-in-five (19%) said office politics are more vicious than national politics.

The survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder among 7,780 U.S. workers (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) between November 9 and December 5, 2011.