Pharma ranks in top 10 for high levels of office politics, notes study

A study of 1,500 people, performed by DBS check provider, uCheck, has found that pharmaceutical companies are in the top 10 for high levels of office politics throughout the UK.

The study aimed at finding out which industry was top for office politics and how people within the workplace environment felt about these sorts of discussions.

When asking the 1,500 people included in the study whether or not office politics existed in their place of work, uCheck found that the highest response rate was in the civil service sector — with 78% of civil servants surveyed stating office politics did exist in their workplaces. The lowest levels of office politics, according to the survey results was found to be in the legal sector at 57%.

Pharma just made it into the top 10, at nine, with 70.2% of respondents from the industry saying that office politics existed in their workplace.

For the second portion of the study, participants were asked about whether they would join in with office politics and if so, would it help with promotions. In response to this, over a third of those questioned believed that joining in with office politics did indeed assist them in gaining a promotion. However, when breaking this proportion down by gender, it was found that the majority who believed this were men.

Additionally, it was revealed that nearly a third of those surveyed believe office politics to be a positive phenomenon. More than half of the respondents felt, however, that office politics were unavoidable.

“It may seem surprising that such a considerable number of people find office politics unavoidable, however, it is worth considering that standing around the water cooler discussing colleagues doesn’t stray too far from our evolution, albeit watercoolers replaced with waterholes and colleagues with predators,” stated Robert Stewart, psychologist consulted on the study by uCheck. “People have a natural tendency to want to find their position within a group or tribe, so office politics becomes an inherent part of the work environment.

“Whilst one would hope that a mutual respect would exist between all colleagues working under the same roof, we are human and possess a number of biases and judgements regarding others. Equality within the workplace is a key part of well-being and strongly correlated with high states of satisfaction and subsequent productivity. However, when we perceive an injustice, office politics and comments on others becomes inevitable, regardless of whether we have the full picture or not.

“Many are also cognisant of the fact that progression at work isn’t purely correlated with competence, for many work is still a social club with the most popular players progressing the fastest. Because of this, it’s likely that the perception of engaging in office politics could assist one in their career. However, this should be considered very carefully, for whatever words are spoken explicitly, many more judgements are made by others implicitly and reputations can be impacted. Once you are known for speaking badly of others, it can become very difficult to rebuild your reputation. A few poorly chosen words can last a career.”