What to do if your employer has a different Voice to Parliament opinion

The upcoming Voice to Parliament referendum has generated plenty of for and against opinions.

Reconciliation Australia described the vote as “A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?”

The proposal has had plenty of staunch supporters and opposition ahead of the referendum. This creates room for conflict and arguments as people voice their own opinion.

As an entry-level worker, remaining as neutral as possible can often be the goal, but how can this be achieved among so many strong opinions?

Michael Byrnes, partner at Swaab, commented: “It’s just the usual advice in relation to social media use and perhaps exercising a greater degree of caution if your employer has taken a particular stance or a particular position. Do it in a way that is not going to bring discredit upon yourself. Do it in a dignified way.”

“Just imagine yourself in the managing partner’s office, with your tweet or post in his or her hand and reading it out to you. Hopefully, you won’t feel, ‘Oh, I shouldn’t have written that. I shouldn’t have said that. I shouldn’t have expressed in that way.’”

If you do have a contrary opinion to your organisation, staying respectful and exercising your right to an opinion without dragging down opposing viewpoints is key.

“Put yourself in the strongest position possible if, indeed, the powers that be within your organisation have a concern and raise it with you. You want to be in a strong position to defend yourself and to be able to say, ‘Yeah, I do hold this view. It’s different to the company’s view, but I expressed it, I’d like to think, in a measured, articulate, thoughtful way. No disrespect is intended’,” said Mr Byrnes.

Organising your social media so it’s not connected to company accounts is important, too, as you shouldn’t be implying that your view is the same as your workplace’s.

“Make sure that your social media account can’t be connected to your employment, so it doesn’t name your employer. It states that the views are personal or professional, and you don’t then try and have a bet each way and say, ‘Oh, this is my private account, but here [are] 50 tweets or posts about where I work and what I do in my employer.’ So genuinely, keep it separated. Have that delineation in place,” Mr Byrnes explained.

Openly criticising your employer can obviously lead to some issues. It’s important to avoid this, or implying this, as it can damage reputations and potentially leave you without a job.

Mr Byrnes continued: “It’s not just an expression of a different view to the employer. It’s where you are doing something that could be said to be connected or associated with your employment, and then you are taking a different view to your employer in that context.”

“I think that’s where the caution needs to be exercised by employees, which is why it’s important to the extent that they are expressing an alternate view, they’re doing it in a private or a personal capacity, and removing it as far as they can from their employment if their employer has taken a contrary view, because I think the employer is entitled to state their position on these matters if that’s what they want to do,” he said.

“They’re also entitled to have some degree of professional loyalty from employees, which doesn’t extend as far as employees needing to slavishly mirror, at all times, the view of the employer on a particular political, philosophical, or social issue.”

Mr Byrnes concluded: “But nevertheless, whilst they’re performing their work at work and in activities associated with work, and that could include posting or tweeting on a social media account that identifies someone as working for a particular company or organisation, I think the employers are entitled or can expect the legal principal to support this, a degree of loyalty and towing the company line.”

The transcript of this podcast episode was slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full conversation with Michael Byrnes, click below: