DEAR HARRIETTE: I work at a company that is pretty mixed politically. I didn’t learn that until the presidential election. Before, I blindly assumed everybody thought like me. And then the debates began internally with people saying things that were rude and dismissive if you didn’t agree with them. It has just gotten worse as the nation seems to be going to hell. It is hard to work when people can’t be civil with one another. What can we do to get back to some semblance of normalcy? -- Business as Usual
DEAR BUSINESS AS USUAL: Our world has turned upside down. People’s views are out in the open, often raw for all to see. On one hand, this may be good, as it is revealing the truth about what people think. On the other hand, decorum seems to have left our society.
Your manager or business owner needs to set the tone. It would be smart for your manager to speak to the company, acknowledge that we are living in difficult and volatile times, and state that everyone at your company is expected to behave respectfully, keeping personal political views to themselves. The manager may need to create guidelines and penalties if staffers refuse to behave professionally. Better still would be to create safe spaces for staff to speak to therapists or health care support if and when they feel emotional about anything.
(Harriette Cole is a lifestylist and founder of DREAMLEAPERS, an initiative to help people access and activate their dreams. You can send questions to askharriette@harriettecole.com or c/o Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)