Google warns workers to tone down political rhetoric at work

Google has warned its workers to tone down the divisive political debate and ideological feuding that have caused severe ructions at the technology company — or risk seeing tighter controls imposed on internal discussion.

FT reports that the call for employees to be more circumspect in their internal communications marks a belated attempt by management to regain control after a series of explosive internal feuds. These have also opened the company to criticism from outside, providing fodder to rightwing critics who claim strident political positions struck by Google’s workers prove that it has an inbuilt anticonservative bias.

Google built an intellectual free-for-all into its culture from the beginning, encouraging employees to “bring your whole self to work”. But that has left it exposed to wider political polarisation and outbreaks in the culture wars, with workers feeling emboldened to take up strident personal positions in debates carried on over the company’s internal message boards.

Via Financial Times