as americans returned to work wednesday, bosses said they were giving them time to react to republican donald trump<u+2019>s surprise election victory, while trying to steer their attention back to business after a tense and distracting campaign season . chief executives at companies including starbucks corp. and j.p. morgan chase & co. sent messages preaching workplace unity while nodding to the divisions that remain among their employees. managers at businesses large and small said they hoped internal memos, videos and team meetings would help employees move on, but they acknowledged it might take time to return to business as usual. at group management services inc., a 220-employee human-resources outsourcing company in richfield, ohio, president mike kahoe said the vote tally hadn<u+2019>t even started to sink in on wednesday morning. he estimated that a majority of his employees supported mr. trump, and described the mood at the office as one of <u+201c>restrained celebration.<u+201d> <u+201c>they<u+2019>re not doing obnoxious high-fives,<u+201d> he said of the trump supporters, describing the <u+201c>quiet, low fist bumps<u+201d> workers exchanged. some work had been stalled as prospective clients shied away from closing deals with the uncertainty of the presidential contest looming. mr. kahoe expects that to continue for a few more days as supporters of hillary clinton take <u+201c>some time to wipe away their tears.<u+201d> <u+201c>nothing changes until monday,<u+201d> he added. ceos of big employers attempted to settle nerves. <u+201c>you are the true promise of america,<u+201d> starbucks chief howard schultz wrote in a note to all 170,000 of the big coffee chain<u+2019>s u.s. employees on sunday. he urged <u+201c>kindness, compassion, empathy, and yes love,<u+201d> sentiments he echoed in another message he sent wednesday. <u+201c>breathe in, breathe out,<u+201d> counseled target corp.<u+2019>s daily message to employees, which included links to adult-coloring-book pages, yoga moves and meditation guides. in a memo sent to staff wednesday at j.p. morgan chase, ceo james dimon acknowledged the frustrations of american voters and wrote that employees <u+201c>need to listen to those voices.<u+201d> jack leslie, chairman of public-relations company weber shandwick, planned to host a panel for its 3,600 employees wednesday afternoon to acknowledge the election result and give employees a chance to ask questions and discuss how mr. trump<u+2019>s victory will affect their work with clients. ceo michael hansen is set to record a video for the 5,000 employees of boston-based cengage learning inc. iater this week. he said he will chat with george miller, a former u.s. democratic representative who advises the education company, and urge workers to <u+201c>build bridges<u+201d> to those who are different from them. <u+201c>if we stop talking, we are digging a hole deeper,<u+201d> he said in an interview. at smaller businesses, managers are gathering employees, sometimes over meals, giving them a chance to vent, express fear and process their reaction to the republican candidate<u+2019>s victory. <u+201c>there<u+2019>s certainly a degree of group therapy that needs to take place,<u+201d> said joel gay, ceo of energy recovery inc., a san leandro, calif., device maker with 145 employees. lori bluett, president of bluett & associates inc., a commercial real-estate firm in sacramento, calif., estimates that her 43 workers spent a couple of hours daily in recent weeks chitchatting with co-workers about the race or responding to client concerns about a new president<u+2019>s impact on financing and the property market. water-cooler chatter picked up over the past six months, she said, adding that the campaign has fostered <u+201c>team building in this weird sort of way.<u+201d> <u+201c>the receptionist is talking with the controller about something other than filing and phone calls,<u+201d> she said. since the party conventions this summer, the pittsburgh office of law firm jackson lewis has received weekly calls from employer clients concerned that discussions of gender, immigration and religion might cause conflict and offend employees, said doug smith, the office<u+2019>s managing principal. in recent weeks, most clients seemed to be concerned about trump supporters<u+2019> response to a clinton victory. on wednesday morning, a client called and seemed <u+201c>at a loss as to what to expect,<u+201d> given mr. trump<u+2019>s win, mr. smith said in an email. mr. smith is advising clients to steer employees back to productivity, remind them of non-harassment policies and to be sure that supervisors refrain from taking sides. deepak malhotra, a professor at harvard business school who teaches negotiation and conflict resolution, said workers should avoid passionate conversations in the immediate aftermath of the election. <u+201c>you want the emotions to dissipate a little. you want people to go back to a normal routine,<u+201d> he said, adding that people generally overestimate how long their feelings will last. about a month ago, rex hammock, founder of marketing firm hammock inc., told his 20 employees there would be no more political talk at the company<u+2019>s nashville, tenn., offices. he said he issued the order only after his office manager told him he needed to tone down his constant joking about trump. mr. hammock will discuss the election at his regularly scheduled monday morning meeting with staffers next week. his planned message: <u+201c>move on.<u+201d> <u+2014> john simons and nikki waller contributed to this article. write to rachel feintzeig at rachel.feintzeig@wsj.com
after trump upset, bosses urge unity at work  - wsj
rachel feintzeig