Is political bias among hiring managers a growing trend?

There is little to no doubt that President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial policies and rhetoric have made him a polarizing political figure—and perhaps unsurprisingly, polarization continues to extend into the workplace, including among hiring managers, according to a new survey.

HR leaders have been confronting growing incivility in the workplace stemming from social and political divides for months, but how are those tensions affecting hiring? To better understand how managers perceive and interact with employees or candidates who supported President-elect Trump, ResumeBuilder.com and Pollfish queried more than 750 U.S. managers.

Among key findings are that one in six managers surveyed said they are less likely to hire a candidate who supports Trump, and one in eight managers are less likely to promote an employee who does likewise.

Also, some managers surveyed even admit to actively trying to encourage Trump-supporting employees to quit, while four in 10 managers believe employees’ political views should be considered in the workplace. On the flip side, 69% report politics would have no impact on their hiring or promotion decision-making.

Of managers who say they would be less likely to hire a Trump-supporting applicant, 76% cite concerns about the candidate’s judgment or decision-making skills, 67% express worries that they may lack empathy and 59% believe their views could create workplace tension. Managers also had concerns that the candidate might lack intelligence (50%) or would not fit in with the workplace culture (45%).

According to Stacie Haller, chief career advisor at Resume Builder, that data represents “a concerning trend” of managers allowing political bias to influence workplace decisions involving hiring and promotions.

“Managers must recognize that political beliefs, like any other personal characteristic, have no place in hiring decisions,” she explains, noting that this is no different from age, gender or religion bias—yet the heightened political tensions nationally appear to have given rise to this type of discrimination.

Rather, she says, skills and abilities—such as decision-making and intelligence—should be evaluated directly through job performance or the hiring process, independent of political affiliation.

“Removing political bias from decision-making is essential to maintaining fairness, fostering a respectful environment and ensuring that workplace evaluations remain focused on professional competence and contributions,” Haller says.

Haller explains that while most managers understand they cannot directly ask biased questions during interviews, some resort to evaluating candidates or even current employees through social media or other indirect methods. When employers fail to address this behavior, they inadvertently amplify biases that have no bearing on a candidate’s or employee’s performance.

HR should communicate directly to hiring managers the established methods for evaluating candidates, she says.

“By reaffirming fair and objective evaluation processes, organizations can create environments where employees are valued solely for their contributions and capabilities,” she says.

Political bias: A new hiring risk?

Haller notes that HR and business leaders have long worked to eliminate bias in the interview process related to factors like age, gender, religion and sexual orientation. However, political bias recently has emerged as a growing concern as the nation itself becomes more polarized. The first step in addressing this issue, she says, is recognizing political bias as existing and a harmful form of prejudice that must be removed from hiring decisions.

“Instead, HR should focus on coaching managers to evaluate candidates based on relevant qualities like decision-making capabilities, empathy and job performance potential as they always have,” she says.

To tackle this challenge effectively, Haller says, HR needs to take proactive measures, including monitoring the hiring process to identify and eliminate political bias and implementing comprehensive training programs for interviewing and hiring. Those efforts should emphasize objective, skills-based evaluations and reinforce the importance of neutrality in decision-making.

“Furthermore, with political tensions increasingly spilling into the workplace, HR must play a leading role in fostering a respectful and inclusive environment,” she says. By addressing biases at the hiring stage and promoting mutual respect among employees, HR can reduce the risk of personal political beliefs becoming too entwined with professional relationships and workplace dynamics.

“This approach not only upholds fairness, but also strengthens the organization’s culture and cohesion,” she says.