Tag: anxiety disorder

Advertisement I recently conducted a study on a broad range of workplace issues, including how the stress of our increasingly divisive politics is affecting worker health, productivity and relationships with colleagues. And all this has serious consequences for worker health and productivity. Over a quarter said political divisions have increased their stress levels, making it harder to get things done. For example, back in September 2016, 17 per cent of those surveyed by the American Psychological Association said they felt tense or stressed out as a result of political discussions at work. The association did a follow-up survey in May 2017 already revealing increased stress levels, a drop in worker productivity and other consequences following the election of Donald Trump. My data puts it at 26 per cent. I also reached out to 20 business leaders from a variety of industries whom I have become acquainted with over the years in my role as a professor – to find out what company managers are doing about politics-related stress. Another was that banning all political discussions was also bad policy, since it opened the door to lawsuits over free speech issues. They seemed to think a lot of managers appeared to be ignoring the problem and hoping it would go away. At the end of the day, to be fair, there’s little companies can do about how politically divided the nation becomes.

I recently conducted a study on a broad range of workplace issues, including how the stress of our increasingly divisive politics is affecting worker health, productivity and relationships with colleagues. Twenty-seven percent of the participants agreed or strongly agreed that work had become more tense as a result of political discussions, while about a third said such talk about the “ups and downs” of politicians is a “common distraction.” One in 4 indicated they actively avoid certain people at work who try to convince them that their views are right, while 1 in 5 said they had actually lost friendships as a result. Over a quarter said political divisions have increased their stress levels, making it harder to get things done. For example, back in September 2016, 17 percent of those surveyed by the American Psychological Association said they felt tense or stressed out as a result of political discussions at work. The association did a follow-up survey in May 2017 already revealing increased stress levels, a drop in worker productivity and other consequences following the election of Donald Trump. My data put it at 26 percent. What managers can do After conducting this study, I wondered what company managers are doing about politics-related stress in the workplace. One was that the problem often began with a higher-level employee sharing his or her political views with others, whether welcome or not, making underlings feel they could engage in similar behavior in the office. The key point is that the business leaders I spoke with tended to agree that managers need to get their heads out of the sand and address the problem head on. At the end of the day, there’s little companies can do about how politically divided the nation becomes.

I recently conducted a study on a broad range of workplace issues, including how the stress of our increasingly divisive politics is affecting worker health, productivity and relationships with colleagues. But politics seem to be dividing Americans more and more. Over a quarter said political divisions have increased their stress levels, making it harder to get things done. For example, back in September 2016, 17 percent of those surveyed by the American Psychological Association said they felt tense or stressed out as a result of political discussions at work. The association did a follow-up survey in May 2017 already revealing increased stress levels, a drop in worker productivity and other consequences following the election of Donald Trump. My data put it at 26 percent. What managers can do After conducting this study, I wondered what company managers are doing about politics-related stress in the workplace. The key point is that the business leaders I spoke with tended to agree that managers need to get their heads out of the sand and address the problem head on. At the end of the day, there’s little companies can do about how politically divided the nation becomes. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

Two years after Hillary Clinton's loss, liberals still feel like the world is going to end. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as political and business news. The number…