Colleague insists on discussing Palestine-Israel situation

[Hydrahelix]

I work for a relatively new SME based in the Home Counties. I manage a team of 11. I'm new here (Ocober 2024), management training has been non-existent and there is a very slim company handbook. HR is a young woman who handles contracts. One of my team has taken to wearing a kaffiyeh scarf to work and talks a lot about the situation in Palestine. He attends rallies in London and has become very passionate on the subject. I should perhaps also mention that he has a history of MH issues which may or may not be relevant here: he does seem to have become somewhere fixated on this issue.

He's alienated a number of his co-workers: two of them are Jewish or have Jewish heritage/ family but there are others who find his expectation everyone will agree with him, and his obvious annoyance is people don't want to get involved, oppressive. Staff have asked me to ask him not to talk about this subject at work. One has reported that the colleague has a 'From the river to the sea' sticker prominent on occasion.

My manager is dials in on occasion from wherever he is and has a robust management style. I imagine he'd tell everyone, including me, to grow a pair and get over themselves. What do I do? Particularly given the potential MH complications?

I would send the email to all staff first & clamp down on the Trumping. Then he can’t claim he’s been singled out.

I would leave any mention of the sticker until the message about not talking politics has been enforced - unless you happen to see it for yourself.

That’s not correct. You can certainly be asked not to raise controversial issues at work that have nothing to do with your job.

Or pretend to agree. (Re trump)

A belief has to be protected in accordance with the Equality Act to qualify though. Support for terrorism or a wish to destroy Israel wouldn’t be protected

I'm a manager and tbh if I have a dick like him working for me I wouldn't give a damn about his MH. I'd pretend to care but just wishing hard he'd leave on his own accord.

Thanks for continued suggestions. My manager is currently in Europe, working, and won't thank me for contacting him about what he'd think of as something minor and domestic while he's preoccupied with what he's doing. I've written a missive banning political discussion from the workplace to go to the entire department, as suggested, and have already sent it to HR for checking and asked for an urgent meeting today. HR is a second-jobber who may not have the experience to handle this. I want to give her the heads-up about the immediate issue and my planned solution, but stress the need to develop policies to help manage situations like this.

I won't go detail about the company, but it was formed after a management buyout of a small part of a larger company early last year and all the emphasis is on productivity and the bottom line. Policy is a luxury at this stage. A luxury we can't afford not to have, I know.

Relieved that I can leave having 'the talk' with the employee for a fortnight to see how things go. He is very intense. If HR approves, I'll send the 'no politics at work' directive to everyone in the department and perhaps follow up with a hard copy left at work stations on Monday morning so that I know everyone has it. I've read the Nelson's advice and sent that to HR to support the legality of what I plan to do. Thanks for all the useful advice.