RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

THE WORKPLACE IS BECOMING A BATTLEGROUND OVER POLARIZED OPINIONS. BUSINESS LEADERS NEED TO GET BETTER AT MANAGING DISPUTES

- AMAN KIDWAI

IN APRIL, GOOGLE CEO SUNDAR PICHAI CONcluded a company blog post with a section titled "Mission First" and called on Google employees, a population of around 180,000 spread across the globe, to "work, collabo rate, discuss, and even disagree." At the time, around 30 employees had just been fired for protesting the tech giant's contracts with Israel and its military.

"This is a business, and not a place to act in a way that disrupts coworkers or makes them feel unsafe," Pichai wrote in the post. "When we come to work, our goal is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. That supersedes everything else, and I expect us to act with a focus that reflects that."

A few days later, CNN reported that the count of people fired grew to 50. The protesters, affiliated with the No Tech for Apartheid advocacy group, say that the Google employee protest was a "peaceful sit-in" and that the firings were retaliatory.

Discontent over political issues among co-workers can play out in less public but equally damaging ways in all kinds of workplaces nationwide. Emily Garrison, a high school teacher in Arkansas, told Newsweek that she tries to remove herself from political debates at school, but that it's not always possible.

"I believe heated and hostile political debates among teachers do not benefit our students, so I avoid direct political discussions,” Garrison said. “One of the most recent, aisle dividing disagreements [in the teachers' lounge] is the controversy about Republican-supported school vouchers."

Garrison told Newsweek that she feels "vouchers predominantly benefit wealthier families" and hurt students in rural and low-income areas. She also mentioned subsidized lunches as another issue that gets divisive. "I was that student. As someone who grew up in poverty, I find it deeply personal that Arkansas has failed to address the issue of free school meals."