Flip on the TV, and all you hear are the insults the presidential candidates spew at each other. Fistfights erupt at rallies, and demonstrators battle with police outside. Cleveland and Philadelphia, hosting the summer conventions, have bought riot insurance.

So what's it like at your office? Is a Hillary supporter glaring at you? Is a Trump follower putting up bumper stickers in the break room? And what about that shouting at the water cooler?

If you believe a new report by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), which polled 457 human resource professionals in May, things aren't too bad ... yet.

Employees acknowledged that there's "greater political volatility" in the workplace, with more than a quarter reporting "tension, hostility or arguments" among co-workers. Roughly two-thirds said nothing had changed, and a mere 5 percent reported less agita on the job than in previous years.

But these findings come with a couple of caveats. "This indication of decreased volatility might be the result of employees not discussing politics for fear of creating tension," said Evren Esen, director of workplace analytics at SHRM. Faced with inflammatory comments about one candidate or the other, "they might just grit their teeth and keep quiet."

"There is so much potential volatility that employees are not discussing the election at all," said one HR manager in the report. "People seem less willing to talk about who they support for fear of backlash, as the candidates are fairly polarizing figures," said another.

But that didn't faze the 26 percent who decided to sound off about who they're backing. They were "very vocal about their opinions," said a third HR manager.

Employers have to walk a very fine line in allowing or curbing this kind of talk, said Esen. They can't prohibit political discussions because that would violate free speech and cause trouble with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

But at the same time employers are responsible for monitoring such discussions to ensure they don't lead to bullying or threatening behaviors, according to the SHRM. How to do this without wiretaps, microphones or office cameras is anybody's guess.

Only about a quarter of employers polled by the SHRM actually have a written policy about political activities in the workplace, and less than 10 percent have "unwritten" policies, numbers that haven't changed much since Barack Obama first ran for president in 2008. Esen believes that number should be higher, "but businesses don't usually do it until there's an incident."

The SHRM didn't conduct this poll in 2012, which was deemed to be a calm reelection year.

The one thing that many businesses do is allow workers time off to vote. More than half give a paid day off, and an additional third let you take time off, without pay. That's vastly different from other cultures, said Esen, where "everything shuts down, and it's a national holiday," which may be why voter turnout is higher in other countries.

The SHRM's best advice to workers is to keep your political opinions to yourself. "The workplace isn't the best place for a lively debate of principles and personal beliefs," said Edward Yost, who handles employee relations at the SHRM. "A good rule of thumb is to avoid those topics that generate the most arguments when you are with family and friends."

For those who feel things are getting too nasty in the office, the first thing to do is to file a complaint with HR. If that doesn't work, and you're a union shop, then talk to your representative. If a co-worker is voicing racial or homophobic slurs, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is another avenue, as is the NLRB if your boss is making political demands.

Esen thinks her May survey may only be the calm before the storm. There are still five "volatile" months before the election, and she's considering doing another poll in October to see whether the current political mayhem has caused more dissention in the office or on the jobsite.

"Stay tuned," she said.