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I think your first reason is, itself, a controversial approach and might actually justify the no-politics idea. It's all fun and games when we integrate ourselv

by Clanan 9y ago

I think your first reason is, itself, a controversial approach and might actually justify the no-politics idea. It's all fun and games when we integrate ourselves into a company past the "business-only" level. Until we get fired/leave and end up losing our company-provided social network, friends and meals. Maybe the presence of politics in non-work activities is simply more evidence that employers should avoid socializing their workplaces beyond what's required for business. As for the second reason, I think it comes down to professionalism. We can politicize anything if we try hard enough. But if our employer says "no politics, just get the work done", then both sides must adhere to whatever policies are provided, within the law. Don't like the bathroom rules or workplace guidance? Work somewhere else.

geofft 9y ago
> As for the second reason, I think it comes down to professionalism. We can politicize anything if we try hard enough. But if our employer says "no politics, just get the work done", then both sides must adhere to whatever policies are provided, within the law. Don't like the bathroom rules or workplace guidance? Work somewhere else. That's certainly an incredibly common view, so I'm not going to say that it's wrong or irrational. But I'm reminded of the bathroom subplot in Hidden Figures - all the restrooms in one building were for white people, and so the one black woman working in the building, who was extraordinarily technically competent, needed to go on extended break to another building every time she needed to use the restroom. "Don't like the bathroom rules, work someplace else" was absolutely the prevailing culture at the time, which had hefty rules about "professionalism" and not "politicizing" things. But it had a serious negative impact on the business, and the right thing to do (which a manager eventually did) was to change the bathroom rules. The choice to adopt "professionalism," and to bring in no politics and leave the political decisions to whatever existing culture is in place, is a political choice of its own. There are a lot of arguments in favor of that choice, yes. But it remains a political choice.
- Clanan 9y ago
  That's why I said "within the law" - to ensure that it isn't the job of the business to determine what is political and/or allowed. What you describe would be illegal, would it not?
  - geofft 9y ago
    This happened in the early 1960s, when it was legal to have both segregated bathrooms and unsegregated bathrooms, as the workplace pleased, and segregated bathrooms were more common.

by Clanan 9y ago

geofft 9y ago

> As for the second reason, I think it comes down to professionalism. We can politicize anything if we try hard enough. But if our employer says "no politics, just get the work done", then both sides must adhere to whatever policies are provided, within the law. Don't like the bathroom rules or workplace guidance? Work somewhere else. That's certainly an incredibly common view, so I'm not going to say that it's wrong or irrational. But I'm reminded of the bathroom subplot in Hidden Figures - all the restrooms in one building were for white people, and so the one black woman working in the building, who was extraordinarily technically competent, needed to go on extended break to another building every time she needed to use the restroom. "Don't like the bathroom rules, work someplace else" was absolutely the prevailing culture at the time, which had hefty rules about "professionalism" and not "politicizing" things. But it had a serious negative impact on the business, and the right thing to do (which a manager eventually did) was to change the bathroom rules. The choice to adopt "professionalism," and to bring in no politics and leave the political decisions to whatever existing culture is in place, is a political choice of its own. There are a lot of arguments in favor of that choice, yes. But it remains a political choice.

Clanan 9y ago
That's why I said "within the law" - to ensure that it isn't the job of the business to determine what is political and/or allowed. What you describe would be illegal, would it not?
- geofft 9y ago
  This happened in the early 1960s, when it was legal to have both segregated bathrooms and unsegregated bathrooms, as the workplace pleased, and segregated bathrooms were more common.