Q: Where I work, we have people from all stripes: Young, old, different nationalities and educational backgrounds and –most relevant to the question- different political views. We’ve always shared one TV in the lunch room without problems. But recently some employees want to watch coverage of the Wall Street protests on one news channel, and other employees insist they want to watch on a different one.
Hard to believe, but which news channel to watch is creating some serious tension among what used to be a pretty easy-going group. Management isn’t getting involved. Any suggestion for smoothing feathers?
A: The standard for news at most airports and public establishments is CNN. But the quickest and most effective suggestion I have is for employees to decide as a group that it’s best to avoid a news channel altogether. Instead, you should agree to watch sports, nature, animal, history channels and such, which are less controversial. This would not only reduce the tension created among employees, it would also reduce the individual stress we all feel when watching any type of news, regardless of our political beliefs. Just like it’s recommended that we avoid the 11 o’clock news before going to sleep, we probably shouldn’t watch news during lunch breaks, when we should be trying to recharge. Personally, I find the Weather Channel inoffensive and relaxing.
Back to your question, I actually don’t find the situation you describe hard to believe.
A similar tension exists when some families get together for Thanksgiving dinner, but then it’s easier to compromise because we only see them for a weekend at the most. So we keep the peace.
Our co-workers we see day-in and day-out. It feels harder to compromise because it seems like a permanent concession. But that’s precisely why it’s even more important that we remain tolerant and avoid political conflicts, we see these folks everyday. If animosity or incivility remain unchecked, the workplace can easily become toxic.
Remember the old adage “To avoid offending others, don’t discuss sex, politics or religion”. It applies at work more than ever.
If you were an easy-going group before, you can become one again. Change the channel before it’s too late.
