Hello and welcome to Working It.
It’s been a busy week in the FT newsroom – we’ve been covering the build-up to the UK general election and concerns about Joe Biden’s age and fitness to stand for president in the US. The pressure on political leaders and scrutiny of their personal lives has never been more intense.
It would be fair to say that all leaders face stressful times. Rana Foroohar, FT column Earlier this week, we highlighted that “politics is one of the top concerns for managers these days.” Read on for expert advice on how to get through the election and political turmoil without repercussions in your own workplace. And on Office Therapy, we hear from someone who has a boss who is secretly on sick leave 🤫.
Heated politics and cool heads
There are crises in the world, not to mention divisive elections in many countries. And people are angry. on the riseAs we’ve discussed here before, that anger is often directed at strangers on the internet, but also potentially at colleagues on Slack, in social posts, and also in that team meeting you call every week.
Nearly half (44 per cent) of UK managers recently surveyed by the Chartered Management Institute said they had witnessed disagreements between colleagues over political views, causing tension in relationships.
What’s a leader to do? And what tone should we all adopt at work? The inclusion rhetoric of recent years — “bring your whole self to work” — is laudable, but it has consequences: when I tried to broach this topic a while back, the interviewee backed off. It was too controversial to even mention the fact that people have different viewpoints. Which, in a way, sums up the workplace right now 🤐.
So I turned to Ann Francke of the WCC, who conducted that survey on political disagreement. I wondered what Ann is telling her staff and members about how to handle hot-button issues at work. The first thing is to keep everything on an individual, human level. “You have to respect people as individuals and their nuances as part of that. Let’s have a culture of that, of individuals. They’re not stereotypes, they don’t represent everyone within their faith or culture or their political party. Let’s not treat each other as if they do.”
The other important point is to communicate the policies you have. Political activism is fine outside of work, but there may be rules in place (or being introduced) about what you can say and do at work. Then you need to enforce them fairly. Inconsistency erodes trust at a time when we need it more than ever.
Finally, Ann proposes a call to reinforce the common purpose of everyone in the workplace. “Let’s focus on the things we agree on, that are relevant to delivering what we have to offer to the organization. Let’s focus on the things that unite us rather than the things that divide us.”
This week on the Working It podcast
Do you know when it’s time to leave your job? Probably not. Humans have a strong tendency toward loss aversion and the “sunk cost fallacy”: You’ve already invested a lot of time and energy in this workplace. Why would any other be better? Annie Duke She’s spent years researching why people quit smoking (or not) and knows how and when to make decisions. (She’s also a world-class poker player ♣️).
In This week’s podcast episodeI talk to Annie about all the ways we give up (this can include firing a team member) and how to set deadlines for our messy decision making.
Office therapy
The problem: Our boss has been on sick leave. [mental health/stress] For months. It’s not “official” because they resist that label, the mental health part is a secret, and as far as the world is concerned, they are still leading the organization. They’re not. The team can’t function properly. Everything is stuck and the board is trying to get the CEO to resign or give us some idea of when they will be back. As a simple employee, is there anything I can do? I’m looking for other jobs. I’d like to send a message to the board about the frustration – would that ruin my career?
Isabel’s advice: Your problem is surprisingly common at a time when so many leaders are burning out, secretly or not. You might be interested in reading this article from HTSI: A look inside the secret CEO retirements 👀. Boards of directors are so concerned with keeping CEOs in office that they can forget about the rest of us.
I asked Naomi Shragai, occupational psychotherapist, coach and author of Work therapyto provide expert guidance on their situation: “When a manager hides their mental health issues because they are worried about how they might be perceived and the backlash it would provoke, they miss the opportunity to have meaningful and transparent conversations about the impact on the organisation and staff.
“When information is withheld and there is no proper leadership, people can become dissatisfied, distrust the organisation and be less productive. All of this can lead to a culture of paranoia where people fear their jobs are in jeopardy. Gossip is spread, based on fantasies rather than actual realities, plus the belief that breaking the silence can only make things worse. All of this has a negative impact on employee wellbeing and productivity. No wonder you’re looking for work elsewhere!”
“I suggest they talk to the board. They may not be aware, or even deny it, of how damaging the CEO’s absence is and how it has been managed. The problem should be taken out of their hands and taken up by the board.”
Five standout stories from the world of work
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The Productivity Hack That Actually Boosts Careers: Pilita Clark discusses a rarely discussed topic: resilience, which can make a huge difference in terms of professional success.
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How Teenagers Affect Working Parents: This article by Emma Jacobs about how difficult it is to be a parent of teenagers and some of the new ways employers are trying to help really resonated with readers and commenters on LinkedIn.
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Employees promoting their company on social media: Would you let your employer persuade you to improve your online profile and reputation? Leah Quinn looks at the confusing world of unpaid employee marketing.
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Working It Guide to AI at Work: Together with my colleague Mischa Frankl-Duval, I outline the five most important things we learned while producing and hosting a three-part podcast series on generative AI at work.
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Is it always better to make quick decisions? My answer to this would be a definitive no, but Jo Ellison makes quick decisions and offers some good examples of why it (sometimes) works in this column.
One more thing . . .
Terrible wages, long hours and no job security: a new Netflix series, America’s sweetheartsgives us access to the behind-the-scenes drama as the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys cheerleading squad searches for its 2023 roster. It’s another hit from prolific sports documentarian Greg Whiteley (his Last chance U and Happiness The series is a must watch, if you haven’t already.
Despite the cheerleaders’ skill and fame, the Cowboys organization pays these women a tiny fraction of what their star football players receive. Come watch the high kicks and then scream at the screen about gender inequality.
And finally . . .
Send me all your ideas, photos of your enviable “work from anywhere” on a Croatian beach or thoughts on workplace politics: isabel.berwick@ft.comThis week I received a handwritten card from someone I met through Working It (thanks, Sarah D). I was reminded of how wonderful it is to receive real letters. So feel free to send those too.
And speaking of getting in touch, here’s the wonderful old-school letterbox I saw recently in the village of Dunster in Somerset.
