Preparing your team for a tense election season

In an industry where leaders often wear their political affiliations on their sleeves, how should engineering managers prepare to navigate any tensions that might arise during a contentious US election year?

According to a recent poll by PR firm Weber Shandwick, three-quarters of Americans believe that companies should maintain political neutrality in the workplace. In a fraught US election year, it makes sense that workers would want to avoid potential political conflicts on the job. But is this the case in the tech industry?

The power players of Silicon Valley have never exactly shied away from expressing their political views (or opening their checkbook in support of their candidates of choice). But in recent years, numerous key figures have begun to wear their political affiliations more prominently on their sleeves – sometimes to the dismay of staff.

Despite the US tech industry’s long-held libertarian streak, a majority of Silicon Valley leaders have historically backed Democrats. Political donation records suggest that this is likely still the case. Pirate Wire reports that Silicon Valley’s top venture capitalists (VCs) have donated $4.29 to Democrats for every dollar they’ve given Republicans in 2024. It is also true that a larger share of Silicon Valley’s donation dollars have gone toward Republican candidates in the last five calendar years than in the half-decade prior.

With Elon Musk and the VC giants Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz among the tech titans to have loudly thrown their support behind former President Donald Trump’s current bid for re-election, some industry watchers are even wondering whether Silicon Valley is lurching to the right.

Assessing political currents across tech 

Ryan Nabil, director of technology policy and senior fellow for the National Taxpayers Union Foundation in Washington DC, points out that the current trends are partly a function of longer-standing perceptions of the industry’s biases. He notes that many US conservatives, in particular, have worried that tech leaders have exploited their influence to advance progressive values. 

In 2019, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley by lambasting his industry’s relentless pursuit of growth at all costs. Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman also stirred controversy following the 2022 repeal of Roe v. Wade by stating that the company would cover expenses for employees who traveled across state lines for reproductive care.

“What we see now is a growing counterreaction from leading conservative voices in Silicon Valley,” Nabil explains. Notably, in addition to rising support for Republican candidates, the tech industry has seen the steady dismantling of the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and programs implemented in the aftermath of the 2020 murder of George Floyd. (Last December, Elon Musk weighed in on the trend by posting, “DEI must die” on his X platform.)

Nabil cautions, however, that this counterreaction “should not be taken as evidence of an industry-wide political shift in any particular direction.” It also seems not to have altered conservatives’ perception of a liberal bias in tech: According to an April 2024 Pew Research survey, 71% of Republicans say major tech companies support the views of liberals over conservatives, while 93% of Republicans think it’s likely that social media sites intentionally censor political viewpoints they find objectionable. 

Others echo Nabil’s observation that a few vocal actors do not necessarily reflect the views of the industry at-large. “Although high-profile figures, like Elon Musk, have been quite loud in their political views, it is important to note that these voices don’t express the industry fully,” says Alex Vasylenko, a Kharkiv, Ukraine-based tech entrepreneur and the founder of The Frontend Company, which is headquartered in southern California. 

However, Vasylenko acknowledges that tech leaders are seemingly becoming more self-conscious of their role in the broader political landscape, making deliberate choices about how to project their ideological values within the context of their respective companies. “Some organizations are becoming more open about their stands through corporate statements or the kinds of projects they follow,” Vasylenko observes.

Though well meaning, these displays of political affiliation can be divisive. According to a new Gallup poll, there is declining support among US adults for businesses taking public stances. “As some consumers react negatively to overly social and political messaging, many companies are increasingly learning that weighing in on social issues might not always be in their best commercial interests,” Nabil says. “Furthermore, such actions risk inviting a heavier regulatory hand from Washington – hardly beneficial for the companies, the sector, and the country at large.”

For now, one thing is certain: Tech and politics have never been so publicly intertwined. To maintain workplace harmony, managers must lead with caution.

Creating a neutral environment

Although it may be tempting, total silence on political issues may not be the best policy for an organization’s bottom line. The Weber Shandwick poll found that, although an overwhelming majority of respondents want a politically neutral workplace, over two-thirds of both US consumers and employees feel that American businesses “must take a stand to protect democracy.”  

Part of that effort includes acknowledging, and respecting, a plurality of opinion. In the workplace, this is sometimes more easily said than done. 

“In general, people want to work in an environment that is relatively peaceful and neutral-feeling, where people can focus on their work and our shared mission,” the Honeycomb cofounder and CTO Charity Majors noted in a recent blog post. “But people also need spaces to talk about what’s going on in their lives and process their reactions.” 

John Price, the CEO of cybersecurity firm SubRosa, recalls working in a large tech organization where political clashes were not uncommon in the mid-2010s. “I saw people fighting over politics on internal communications,” Price says. “The 2016 election was a hotbed there, and I don’t think this election is any different. I absolutely think it’s something that employers are probably dealing with right now, especially in bigger organizations.”

Rather than ban political discussion outright, Price has taken care to establish basic guidelines for potentially divisive discussions between staff. “We take the line of, ‘everyone’s entitled to an opinion and a belief, and everyone is entitled to share that,’” he says. “As long as everyone is professional, then I have no issue with people having discussions. We’ve never had an issue with anyone overstepping that.”

Vasylenko shares a similar view. As he sees it, facilitating civil discussion is more realistic (and perhaps more productive) than attempting to restrict discourse in any way. “The important thing is to find that middle ground that allows for free expression, yet maintains respect and cohesion within a work environment,” he says. 

Managers may find it beneficial to collaboratively set ground rules for potentially fraught conversations within teams. 

While doing so, they should consider a few basic principles: 

• The freedom to share one’s point of view should not be mistaken for an invitation to try to convince others to change theirs.
• Using “I” statements ensures that individuals speak for themselves and not on behalf of others.
• Courteous listening must go both ways.
• Everyone’s views are legitimate. 

Rather than avoid the discomfort that stems from potential disagreement, managers and teams would do well to leverage diverse opinions to encourage a culture of empathy and respect.