Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER OCTOBER 2019 8 NEWS to have some discussions in the workplace, about employees being mindful about what they discuss when it comes to politics." It's not only the federal election that might spark intense debate at work, says Debby Carreau, CEO of Inspired HR in Vancouver. "e Alberta election was quite contentious back in the spring of this year," she says. "We definitely saw some issues because it was very polarizing. When you've got someone that's got a minority opinion, I felt like many times they come to us in HR and they say, 'Well, I'm really uncomfortable in the workplace because people are talking aggres- sively about getting a new premier and how terrible the existing gov- ernment is… and it's making me really uncomfortable because everyone's so vocal about it and I have a different perspective.'" Focus on free speech Employees have a right to free speech, but there's also an im- portant balance between free speech and respect in the work- place, says Carreau. "ere's other times and places to discuss politics — usually the workplace is not the best place for it. But, that being said, you've got to be careful; you can't stamp on people's right to free speech." Political beliefs are not legally considered as protected grounds in all provinces, so an employer may want to fetter such talk in the workplace, according to Colleen Hoey, a partner at Mann Lawyers in Ottawa. "In Quebec, their charter pro- tects political expression; Ontario does not," she says. "Often, these conversations can sometimes tread into those types of areas like religion, gender expression — those types of pro- tected grounds — and if people are aware of their obligations under the Ontario Human Rights Code, they're aware that how they approach their conversations with others ought not to tread into some of those areas." An employee's right to free speech also has its limits, says Williams. "Employees have rights to ex- press themselves freely, but these rights should be curtailed by the legal requirements that are set out in legislation from a common-law perspective… certainly, when it comes to harassment and dis- crimination," she says. "Sometimes, these discussions can — particularly where someone unwittingly may be pushing the en- velope with respect to the types of comments and jokes that they're making within the workplace — constitute harassment, and that's why employers may wish to in- sert themselves, from a proactive perspective, to ensure that, on a pre-emptive basis as well, conver- sations don't derail." Formal policies can help Most companies already have rules in place that can handle these types of charged discussions, say experts. "It's really about respect in the workplace," says Carreau. "Most of the policies really have to come around to that re- spect in the workplace and 'How do we allow people to voice their opinions and be respectful of other people's perspectives?'" For employers that want to es- tablish a set of guidelines, "the easiest way to wrap it in is around the respect in the workplace, the safe workplace, the anti-bullying, harassment policy. Putting it in there and using good judgment is really where most workplaces will put it. Unless you've got a manual that's got hundreds and hundreds of policies, you're not likely to have a special breakout section on how you deal with elections," she says. Companies may also want to en- act guidelines that extend beyond the workplace, says Williams. "You might even include in so- cial media policies some aware- ness and sensitization to the fact that employees don't have free rein on social media, even after hours, where their com- ments, views and opinions and posts could be connected to the employer, because that could be reputationally harmful. We've had many cases that have gone down that path." e right place to address social media concerns, according to Car- reau, is in employee contracts. "When you hire someone, what is the code of conduct as it relates to acceptable behaviour? And then you can actually extend it beyond just what's protected by human rights; you can actually put some things in there in terms of 'How do you represent your brand well? How do you convey positive messaging? What are the things you can do?' at's usually a really good place to put it, if you're able to do it at the onset of some- one's employment relationship," she says. In addition, senior leadership needs to lead by example, says Carreau. "[They should] role model the types of conduct that are appropriate, and also they have to be trained on how to be vigilant, look out for any signs where there could be incidents or discussions that could be veering off track of what's appropriate within the workplace." Direct intervention Management may want to di- rectly address the issue of people discussing politics on a compa- ny-wide basis, if things become too heated. "If there was a very charged atmosphere, I think that prob- ably having a conversation [or] a meeting about 'We've noticed this behaviour and we understand that people feel strongly because politics does touch on often core beliefs that are really central to people's lives,'" says Hoey. "'And because of this charged atmosphere, we wanted to remind people that the way that we have these conversations matters and if it really is detracting from time spent in the office… if people want to have these conversations, have them on their own time.'" But if problems persist, man- agement may have to take a more serious approach by saying, "Un- fortunately, this is not working well; it's causing some real tension in the office, so we ask between now and election day that people don't engage in political conversa- tions," she says. "at would be hard to man- age, hard to enforce, but it may be necessary in some situations." POLITICS < pg. 1 "How do we allow people to voice their opinions and be respectful?" Senior leadership should lead by example: expert Brown-eyes blue? Your genes determine a whole lot more than just your eye colour We're using pharmacogenetic testing to help disability claimants discover which medications will get them back to health faster and more effectively. It's part of our proactive approach to helping employers bring better health solutions to their employees. Ready for a healthy change in benefits? TM The Blue Cross symbol and name are registered trademarks of the Canadian Association of Blue Cross Plans, used under licence by Medavie Blue Cross, an independent licensee of the Canadian Association of Blue Cross Plans. Health and Wellness | Drug Management | Disability medaviebc.ca/healthychange

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