Hiding political views at work destroys job satisfaction and drives turnover
Employees who feel politically misaligned with their workplace are more likely to self-censor their views—and that suppression directly erodes their satisfaction, sense of belonging, and commitment to staying. The finding suggests companies face a hidden retention risk as ideological tension forces workers to mask their authentic selves.
Originaltitel: The role of political fit and self-censorship at work for job satisfaction, social belonging, burnout, and turnover intentions
<p>We examined whether employees (N = 710) who experience low levels of political fit and who self-censor their political opinions at work, are more likely to display lower job satisfaction and perceived social community, and higher turnover intentions, burnout, and fear of social isolation. The results largely confirmed these associations and showed that the associations between perceived political fit and job satisfaction, social community, turnover intentions, and burnout were statistically mediated by willingness to self-censor. This suggests that employees who experience lower levels of person-organization fit with regards to their political ideology have a higher tendency to censure themselves, which is negatively related to their well-being, perceived social belonging, and job satisfaction. Furthermore, we found that the willingness to self-censor political opinions at work was slightly higher on average among those who were politically to the left, female, younger, and less educated. The findings point to the complexity of navigating political ideologies in the workplace.</p>