Google clamps down on political debate at work
The internet giant has faced a series of PR crises stemming from employees’ words and actions, circulated memos and political grandstanding. The company hopes to move on.
Most employees don’t want their workplaces to become forums for political debate.
A study from Clutch reported that only 32% of employees even somewhat agree that differing political viewpoints foster a healthy exchange of ideas.
For Google, the political debate happening in employee forums has spilled out into the public sphere, prompting the company to take a stand against political posturing at work.
Google has long prided itself on a workplace culture in which employees are encouraged to speak their minds and engage in philosophical debates.
But now the company, stung by recent controversies, is trying to rein in its famously freewheeling employees. On Friday, Google issued new workplace guidelines that ordered its staff to refrain from insulting one another, from making misleading comments about the company and from “disrupting the workday to have a raging debate over politics or the latest news story.”
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