With more and more employees working from home or on the go, there is less of a distinction between their work and personal lives. With the 24/7 news cycle, heightened use of social media and an ever-increasing sense of fear in our society, current events can be a significant source of stress for some employees.
It can be a delicate balance between allowing employees to discuss current events in the workplace and having conversations that devolve into contentious arguments and gossip. It is important to communicate a policy about how the organization will handle discussions about current events, especially as it applies to political topics, which can be highly charged and potentially distract from productivity. Regardless of whether the company chooses to forgo communications on certain topics or opts to actively address them, leadership should make this clear in a written plan that is cascaded down through the organization in a prepared process.