1 in 3 Gen Z Employees Lie About Their Political Beliefs at Work, According to New Survey

Enhancv surveyed 500 working age Americans to gauge opinions on and experiences with political conversations at work. Key findings:

• 1 in 3 Gen Z employees lie about their political beliefs.
• 5% overall have been disciplined at work for expressing political opinions. But Gen Z are 10 times more likely to be disciplined than baby boomers.
• 1 in 5 overall feel threatened discussing politics at work. But Gen Z are almost twice as likely to feel threatened as baby boomers, 28% vs. 15%.
• The most controversial topics to discuss overall are Presidential candidates, abortion, and LGBTQ rights. But for Hispanic workers, the top three are Presidential candidates, gun control, and racial equality.
• 6 in 10 believe discussing politics at work is unacceptable, but that proportion decreases to 4 in 10 male Republicans.

Overall 17% of respondents admitted to lying about their political beliefs to avoid disagreements. But, at 33%, Gen Z is almost twice as likely to lie.

Among Gen Zers who lied, the issues they’re most likely to lie about are:

• 72%, voting intentions.
• 54%, Presidential candidates.

The least likely to lie about politics are female Republicans, 7%.

5% reported being disciplined for expressing their political views. However:

• Men are more than twice as likely to have been disciplined than women, 8% vs. 3%.
• Gen Z are 10 times more likely to have been disciplined than baby boomers 15% vs. 1.5%.
• Female Democrats are least likely. None reported being disciplined.

23% have felt threatened in workplace political discussions. However:

• Gen Z are almost twice as likely as baby boomers to feel threatened, 28% vs. 15%.

Respondents were also given a list of political issues and chose any that they thought were contentious to discuss. The top three answers overall were:

• Presidential candidates, chosen by 60%.
• Abortion, 52%.
• LGBTQ rights, 45%.

However:

• For Gen Z, the list is Racial equality 60%, Presidential candidates and abortion, both 52%.
• For Hispanic workers the choices are Presidential candidates, 62%, gun control and racial equality both 45%.

58% believe political conversations at work are unacceptable. However:

• Women are more likely than men to consider them unacceptable, 67% vs. 48%.
• Male Republicans are least likely to consider them unacceptable, 44% and female Independents are most likely, 72%.

Finally, some advice on discussing politics at work:

Maintain a boundary between your private self and your professional persona. This allows you to observe the workplace culture before deciding how much of your beliefs to share.

—Silvia Angeloro, Executive Coach

For more details and methodology, please see the full report. If sharing with your readers please link back to Enhancv if possible.