Worries about the US election could reduce the productivity of some workers

• Anxiety over US elections could affect the productivity of some workers.
• When we see incivility, even at second hand, it can divert our attention and focus, an expert told BI.
• A boss is considering letting his employees work remotely in the weeks after the election.

AJ Gareffa considered taking off the next day Tuesday’s election but plans to not work all week.

Gareffa, 27, is a therapist in Livonia, Michigan, near Detroit. They said they’ve already found in recent days that the stress of the election sometimes causes their minds to wander for a few seconds when they’re with a client. Gareffa said this is a sign that time off is needed.

“You can’t be a life raft for anyone if you’re drowning,” they told Business Insider.

Gareffa isn’t the only one finding it harder to focus at work because of election anxiety.

In a survey of 1,000 U.S. managers conducted online in October by ResumeBuilder.com, 38 percent of respondents said the election has already hurt morale and productivity. Seven out of 10 managers are worried that tensions will worsen after the election.

Felix Kim is the founder and CEO of Redrob, a startup developing skills assessments designed to eliminate hiring bias. He’s worried, in part, that the election could affect team cohesion and said he’s already seeing signs the inevitable campaign news is wearing on workers.

“People, of course, are entertained,” Kim said. He said he plans disruptions to his company’s routines because, regardless of who wins, “it’s going to be a wild ride.”

Kim is considering telling small company workers who normally commute to his New York City office a few days a week to work remotely after the election, maybe even for two weeks.

The cost of tension

The American Psychological Association found in an August survey that nearly seven in 10 U.S. adults reported that the election was a “significant” source of stress. That’s similar to 2020 and up from the 52 percent of adults who reported the same level of anxiety in 2016. The online survey, conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of the APA, involved approximately 3,300 U.S. adults.

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“The emotional drain of what we’re all dealing with will decrease productivity,” Gabriella Kellerman, chief innovation officer at virtual coaching platform BetterUp, told BI. How much we achieve at work can be reduced by our own anxiety and when working with others it becomes difficult.

“As we get closer to the election, people are more likely to avoid colleges because of the feared political tension,” Kellerman said.

That friction or fear of it can affected the team’s result.

Dorie Clark, a communications coach who teaches at Columbia Business School and is the author of “The Long Game,” told BI that some workers have been preoccupied for months with the election. It is likely to increase on Election Day and perhaps after, she said.

She said some workers will be busy accessing news updates and social media sites, looking for insight into how the election might turn out.

“What they want is the one thing they can’t have, which is control,” Clark said.

She said that for some workers, not knowing what their future – and the country’s – might look like because of the vote can cause major stress.

“This is no different than a patient who has acute symptoms but no diagnosis,” Clark said.

Bad behavior can be contagious

Christine Porath, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business and author of “Mastering Community,” told BI that the toxicity of a divisive election could spill over into our workdays as people they are exposed to rudeness and bad behavior. — even if he only learns about it secondhand.

“It’s very distracting and diverts our attention and focus. It leads us to perform worse, to be much less creative, less useful to others, and unfortunately it’s contagious,” she said.

Porath said when incivility seeps into the workplace, it incentivizes employees to act or think dysfunctionally. Those employees, in turn, can spread that negativity to their colleagues.

The Society for Human Resource Management reports that politics is a “primary driver” of workplace incivility. Uncleanness, the organization said, costs American organizations $2.17 billion every day in absenteeism and reduced productivity.

It’s not all bad news, though. In research Porath conducted a few years ago involving six organizations from different industries, she found that workers who felt they thrived in their jobs were better able to reject the kind of negativity—such as that emanating from from a controversial choice – which could lead them to become distracted.

What managers can do

Clark, the communications coach, said managers shouldn’t make assumptions about their teams’ political leanings, but should instead be sensitive to employees’ emotions.

However, that doesn’t mean being overly lenient or letting workers spend too much time focusing on issues that aren’t relevant to the business.

“You might feel sad about who wins or loses a presidential election, but that’s very different from, say, the death of a relative,” Clark said.

Despite widespread concerns about the election, not every indicator points to the troubling political climate throwing off most workers. In an online survey of about 900 US workers conducted from late August to mid-September, research firm Gartner found that while 48 percent of employees said they were concerned about who would won the election, two-thirds of respondents said these concerns “didn’t affect their productivity at work.”

Gareffa, the Michigan therapist, doesn’t want to risk being too distracted when he’s with clients. Gareffa plans to use the week off work to spend time with family and maybe focus on a hobby like drawing or sculpting. They said their customers understood the planned time.

“He was a good example of how to take care of yourself without running away from responsibilities or just putting the brakes on life,” Gareffa said.