British workplaces are losing viewpoint diversity
A dive into the data reveals a Progressive Activism monoculture is taking over journalistic--and other--job centres in the U.K. Ethical Systems explores.
In the United Kingdom, most people don’t feel comfortable bringing their whole selves to work. For two-thirds of the population, talking politics sincerely, on the job, is uncomfortable. People who hold certain, commonplace views, stay silent believing that expressing those views will carry penalty not reward.
These are among the findings of a study developed by Cambridge University’s Political Psychology Lab, YouGov, and organizations both of us belong to—MHP Communications (Barron) and The Depolarization Project (Goldsworthy). Our aim is to understand the impact of polarization on British society and help communicators to play a leading role in depolarizing it.
The evidence from this survey suggests that polarization is limiting viewpoint diversity within U.K. organizations. Why does this matter? It has been shown that viewpoint diversity improves decision making,
encourages innovation, and bolsters financial performance. Yet political diversity is often excluded from drives to extend inclusion, if it is even considered at all.
When it comes to speaking their minds at work, one of these tribes—home of the “Progressive Activist”—is not like the others.
Polarization encourages people to see issues in Manichaean terms and increases the likelihood that colleagues will seek to discriminate—often subconsciously—against their outgroup. People often apply labels to others based on proxies, from the food people eat, to the clothes they wear. Polarized organizations can become more resistant to listening to critical feedback—treating dissenting views as a challenge to their authority, and are also more likely to discriminate on the grounds of politics during recruitment processes, creating a self-perpetuating problem.
Evidence now suggests that in some situations discrimination on the basis of political views is greater than on race. Managers have not yet worked out how to intervene in political disputes between employees and there is a risk their responses could be ineffective or counterproductive. Our data found marked differences between generations in terms of their core beliefs. Younger and older people profoundly disagree on questions such as the role of the nuclear family and whether our nation’s history is something to be proud of.
An inclusive workplace ought to accommodate and challenge every generation. Naturally, political moderates may find a highly politicized workplace off-putting. This could accelerate further polarization and risk the organization becoming disconnected from the views of a large part of the population.
Only nine percent of the British adults we surveyed described politics as “very important” to their sense of identity, and only 22 percent had shared any political content on their social channels in the previous year. Similarly, 62 percent of adults told us that journalism was “too political,” while 44 percent said the same of TV
entertainment. Polarization has left the majority of people exhausted by politics.
If politics is a minority sport, there is, however, one group that loves to play it. And the data suggests that they will play an outsize role in shaping debate. Research group More in Common has produced a psychographic model of Britain (similar to its Hidden Tribes of America report), based on seven tribes defined by shared worldviews.
For our study, we segmented our audience polling based on this model. We found that, when it comes to speaking their minds at work, one of these tribes—home of the “Progressive Activist”—is not like the others.
“A powerful and vocal group for whom politics is at the core of their identity,” as More in Common describes them. “They seek to correct the historic marginalization of groups. Politically engaged, critical, opinionated, frustrated, cosmopolitan and environmentally conscious.” This tribe represents 13 percent of the population and is far more likely to feel confident expressing political views in the workplace than any other group (51 percent versus a national average of 37 percent) and far more likely to say politics is “very important” to their identity (21 percent versus a 9 percent national average).
Perhaps most importantly for managers, this group is significantly more likely to organize with other colleagues to protest in the event that their employer does something they “strongly object to” (52 percent, compared to a national average of 32 percent) or informally criticize the company to friends and colleagues (44 percent, compared to a national average 23 percent).
No surprise, then, that “progressive activists” have a higher propensity to express their political views among friends and colleagues and online—58 percent have shared political content on social media in the last 12 months, compared to a 22 percent national average. Sixteen percent have tried to have something banned, versus a seven percent national average. They have a stronger preference for hearing their own views reflected back at them—44 percent are likely to say that their friends share their same political views, compared to a 19 percent national average. And they have views that diverge from majority public opinion on a wide range of social issues—from capitalism and diversity.
While the passion of these employees can be energizing and help to drive positive change, it can also drown out other perspectives and lead companies to lose sight of what matters to their customers. Many companies we work for, particularly those based in London, find themselves caught between appeasing their workforce and serving the people who buy their products—audiences who often have very different core values.
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