It's a pretty recent phenomenon. Having worked in a couple of fortune 100 companies, there was rarely any discussion of controversial topics. We talked about ou

It's a pretty recent phenomenon. Having worked in a couple of fortune 100 companies, there was rarely any discussion of controversial topics. We talked about our families, sports, movies, the weather, etc when we talked. We rarely discussed politics. Maybe a remark here or there, but never a full out discussion, argument, etc. I don't know what political party my co-workers belonged to, if any. Never asked, nor was asked, about voting. But I've noticed we've been getting more emails/notices from HR about supporting causes, tax deductible charities ( many of which could be seen as controversial depending on one's views on a lot of matters ), etc. And there is a very small minority of highly vocal and politically active group. But most of us just want to work and go home as quickly as possible. Maybe it's because we have too many people employed who have nothing to do. They sit in front of their computer all day reading the toxic news all day and get radicalized. Idle hands mixed with overconsumption of news can make for a toxic mindset. Not sure why companies have gotten so politicized. I think a bit of it is the types of people working in HR. The ubiquitous toxic news, especially on social media. You would think shareholders, the board and the CEO would want people to be as apolitical as possible since that makes the most sense to run a profitable company composed of a diverse group of people.