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> It has an impact all the time because there are many subjects not safe to discuss. I agree with you, in the sense that cultures heavier on PC typically have

> It has an impact all the time because there are many subjects not safe to discuss. I agree with you, in the sense that cultures heavier on PC typically have a bit more self-censorship than they might otherwise. However, my experience so far is basically that nothing of value was lost! I can kinda sympathize with the first guy who gets in trouble for stepping over the (newly instated, sometimes implicit) line. But as far as actual effects on the office? Mostly just a work place that feels more like a place where important work happens and less like a high school lunch table. I'd be curious to know why you think the typically censored topics add anything of business value to a work place.

flukus 10y ago
Depends on how much value you place on office socialising, which certainly has it's benefits. It can also have a big impact on hiring when it becomes heresy to question things like diversity quotas. One I often see personally is not being able to discriminate based on communication ability out of fear of being labelled racist.
- greglindahl 10y ago
  And there's a good reason to have a more open mind about communication: you miss out on some potentially great candidates that way. The first ops person I hired at blekko had kinda terrible spoken English. He was awesome and solved a lot of hard problems. I just learned to not try to communicate with him over the phone :-) If I step back a step, the reality is that I am always more comfortable communicating with people like me, with an accent I'm comfortable with, who use my kind of vocabulary, who use similar grammar to mine. Guess what? I can effectively communicate with a lot more people than the ones who score highly on my personal communication scale. Edit: I should add that this is something that should be discussed openly during the recruitment process.

flukus 10y ago

Depends on how much value you place on office socialising, which certainly has it's benefits. It can also have a big impact on hiring when it becomes heresy to question things like diversity quotas. One I often see personally is not being able to discriminate based on communication ability out of fear of being labelled racist.

greglindahl 10y ago
And there's a good reason to have a more open mind about communication: you miss out on some potentially great candidates that way. The first ops person I hired at blekko had kinda terrible spoken English. He was awesome and solved a lot of hard problems. I just learned to not try to communicate with him over the phone :-) If I step back a step, the reality is that I am always more comfortable communicating with people like me, with an accent I'm comfortable with, who use my kind of vocabulary, who use similar grammar to mine. Guess what? I can effectively communicate with a lot more people than the ones who score highly on my personal communication scale. Edit: I should add that this is something that should be discussed openly during the recruitment process.