Financial Review Reports: Businesses waded into these once taboo topics to begin with because they claimed they aligned with their corporate values, and – let’s be real – because they viewed it as good PR.

But amid today’s merciless culture wars, deciding what to say about the latest hot-button issue is no longer a question for the marketing or social media team. It has escalated into a potentially massive reputational and political risk that companies are often better served hashing out at the board level.

So, as we enter 2023, it’s time to call it: The era of widespread corporate outspokenness is ending.

Part of the calculus for corporations is that they may be realising they overestimated the goodwill their public stances generate.

Research from Vanessa Burbano, a professor at Columbia Business School in New York, has found there is a “significant demotivating effect” if an employer takes a stance an employee disagrees with, but no statistically motivating effect if the employee agrees.