This year's national elections in just a few months are concerning for many employers given the amount of division and friction that is publicly obvious. Even if the heaviest degree of partisanship is found only among a minority of the populace, that still means the possibility of deep conflicts in the office and not just in big corporations.

"For business owners in the middle market, it's almost always personal," Domenique Moran, a partner at the law firm Farrell Fritz, tells GlobeSt.com. "As law has developed, those issues have become more complex."

"There are peaks and valleys in the activity in most workplaces that mirror the peaks and valleys we're seeing more broadly in the U.S.," she says. "I have started to prepare employers for what is likely to be a rocky summer with fairly high peaks during political conventions. For employers, it used to be that what was happening outside stayed outside, and that line has blurred significantly."