PPB March 2021

about your business and how I can help.” Kinch says that if none of the above responses sound like you, to simply replace them with words you are comfortable saying. “Like everything else, conversational agility takes a little practice. Knowing how to gracefully reframe or redirect conversations will serve you well,” she adds. Pete Gleason, MAS, vice president sales at Erie, Pennsylvania, supplier CPS / Keystone Line (Custom Plastic Specialties LLC), has also had to address this problem among employees in the workplace. “In the past, I have experienced someone who felt the need to turn every meeting into a political discussion. In my situation, I found ignoring it helped quiet it down.” For those managers who are dealing with situations in which clients are involved, he suggests creating a company policy stating that the company discourages political conversations with customers and, if ignored, to move to a written warning for the employee. Dan Townes, president of supplier Shepenco in Shelbyville, Tennessee, hasn’t dealt with the issue at his company, but says he’d take similar action if needed. He recommends sitting down with the employee, with another employee as a witness, and explaining that this action is against the conduct of the company and reflects negatively on it. He says he would follow that up with a written warning and add, “… Should this type of activity continue, and further complaints/mentions are received, then other actions up to and including dismissal could occur.” There’s no arguing that emotions are high right now— even in the workplace—and some may wonder if things will ever cool down. Doris Kerns Goodwin, a Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian, public speaker and best-selling author, recently addressed that concern in a TV interview. She explained that history shows us that during the Civil War, the Great Depression, WWI and WWII, the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and John F. Kennedy and the Kent State shootings in 1970—in all of these moments in time, citizens of the day have always wondered, ‘Is this it?’ ‘Can we, as a nation, survive this?’ We always have,” she said. Tina Berres Filipski is editor of PPB . CKA / Gutzemberg / Shutterstock.com. Can I, as an employer, require my employees to get a vaccine for COVID-19? Claudia St. John, president of Affinity HR Group, says yes, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently advised that employers are within their rights to require a COVID vaccine as a condition of employment. “Employers must, however, provide reasonable accommodation for those who cannot take the vaccine due either to a medical condition or a sincerely held religious belief as provided under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act," she says. “At this point, our recommendation to employers is to start with a positive, voluntary program before wading into the challenges posed by mandating the vaccine. Of course, we encourage employers to seek our advice or the advice of legal counsel before moving forward with a vaccination policy.” Read more on the EEOC site at this link: https://bit.ly/3iXx3D0 42 | MARCH 2021 | GROW