Talking politics at work can get heated, because people have their own beliefs. At the moment the elections are on, and certainly in the area in which I live, talking about political subjects is discouraged to the extent of taboo.

There are so many conflicting views at the moment, and the heat is rising as the front runners in my country's elections are not only different in political stance, but an added element has been introduced in that a woman is involved.

How does that differ from other countries ? Here, women really are not taken as seriously in careers as one would like, and one of the main difficulties of talking politics at work is that the conversation inevitably boils down to a question of which sex is capable of running for office. Frenchmen are notoriously sexist and the atmosphere that political talk would cause in the workplace isn't worth the argument.

In France, people talk openly about politics. They are passionate in their concerns about not really being given much option in direction, since most of the runners in the game offer such dramatic change, and the French are wary about jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Talking about it at work raises questions as to people's moral judgments, and enemies can be made, tensions created and certainly cause more problems than it is worth.

In a professional environment, politics may get pushed to the surface, although the conversation is more about turn out for the polls, rather than discussing beliefs simply because the whole nation is so up in arms about change that it makes it very difficult to discuss with people of strong views, especially when your views differ from theirs. Within the contract I received from my work, there is a section devoted to suitability of discussion with other employees on personal matters, and this really is the first time I have seen such strong views that it gets mentioned in a works contract.

To understand, you would need to go back a few years to the time of Le Pen, whose views were frightening and extremely insensitive. Troubles broke out all over the country because of the opinions of people clashing, and I suppose the new addition to contracts reflects that personal beliefs are not an issue to discuss within the workplace is a follow through from problems in areas affected by immigration.

Workplaces are for work. Leave the politics at home.

Learn more about this author, Rachelle de Bretagne.
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