Hot take: the old 'never talk politics at work' rule kept way more people employed than any HR training

River Davis · 2026-09-10T23:40:03.979511+00:00

I was digging through an old filing cabinet at my uncle's shop in Tulsa last month and found a 1997 employee handbook. One page said keep your mouth shut about politics, religion, and salary at the counter. That was the whole policy. Two paragraphs. Nobody got fired at that shop for 14 years. Now I see folks get walked out over one post from 2011 that somebody screenshotted. I read a stat from a HR group that 1 in 5 companies now check old social posts before hiring. Feels like we traded a simple rule for a permanent record. Did your old job have a rule like that, or was it every person for themselves?

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Hot take: the old 'never talk politics at work' rule kept way more people employed than any HR training | Canceled People Speak - Free To Speak