By Max Jungreis
Originally appearing in Business Insider
A fraught election, a pandemic, social unrest and remote work have put many people on edge. The startup world is no exception. 2020 has been a record year for conflict at the office and the U.S. presidential election is making it worse, hundreds of startup founders say according to a new survey.
Consulting firm Kung Group digitally surveyed over 470 founders to find out what level of conflict they were experiencing at work and the sources of conflict. Over 73% of those who responded said they had never, personally or professionally, experienced more conflict than they had in 2020.
The survey asked founders to identify the major sources of conflict for themselves and among their employees.
About 58% of responding CEOs said communications issues exacerbated by remote work had become a top source of conflict for themselves, personally. After that, 51% percent of respondents said disagreements over company strategy and vision were a major source. And almost half — 47% — named "politics, the election, and ideological issues" as a major driver of discord.
When it came to their employees, 59% of CEOs thought that performance expectations were the biggest source of conflicts. But politics ranked high, too, and was named as a major source by 52%. More potently, 61% of respondents said tension over political and social events had impacted workplace relationships.
Meanwhile, two-thirds said solving conflicts was harder due to remote work.
"Working remotely has not dampened the rapid escalation of fierce debates in the workplace," Kung Group CEO Jocelyn Kung told Business Insider. "Whether it is through internal message boards, emails, shared groups, communities or arguments over Zoom, people are expressing their polarizing views and fanning the flames of toxic discord."
Tech startups CEOs are not alone in feeling conflict. Employees at Spotify, Facebook, Amazon, Pinterest, Google, Wayfair have all engaged in protests, this year.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong set off a firestorm of controversy last week when he sought to solve the issue by forbidding employees to bring any activism to work and saying the company won't take social stands either. He followed it up with a severance offer for employees unhappy with his neutral stance. Multiple former employees told Business Insider of one instance, known as "bathroomgate" that occured at Coinbase last year that caused an uproar for months. It involved the placement and then removal of signs near the bathrooms.
Kung said the key to resolving conflicts is "to stand on principle and develop policies around those principles," pointing to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who is outspoken on many social causes.
Kung also recommended running Zoom sessions solely dedicated to social time as a way of building trust among coworkers, which can minimize conflict.
"Building trust is a discipline, not a social skill," Kung said. "Much like going to the gym."