Office Romance
How to develop a successful interoffice relationship policy
With everyone spending more and more of their time at work, the office has become a prime spot for socializing. People are, more than ever, friends with their coworkers. These are the people you spend most of your day with, and they understand what is going on in your working life. It’s no surprise then that interoffice relationships just seem natural!
However, with interoffice relations - whether it’s friendships or romance - comes complications. It can be difficult to separate your feelings for someone from your professional relationship with them. Even worse, when things go wrong in your personal relationship, it can be difficult to continue working together.
How to Deal
As a small business owner, it’s important to develop an interoffice relationship policy. While some will be hesitant to outright ban interoffice dating, others may find this a practical policy. If this is the policy at your office, people will tend to relate to each other differently, well aware that, unless one person is willing to sacrifice their job, nothing will come of the relationship.
On the other hand, some small business owners might welcome their employees getting together. Sometimes the atmosphere of an office can become more positive when people are relating to each other in this way. If you’re going to allow office romances to blossom, have a clear set of rules to prevent uncomfortable situations and possible human resources liabilities.
Rules of Romance
Some common rules of office romance set out by companies include:
- Those in the relationship can never be in positions of power over their significant other. This precludes any accusations of favoritism or discomfort for the couple who may not know how to navigate the leader / team member relationship while involved.
- Respect others and keep the relationship subtle. There is no need for people involved in an office romance to pepper the day with public displays of affection, or to demonstrate a lack of concern for others by neglecting work in order to spend time together.
- Be professional no matter what happens. Those entering into an office romance need to be mature about the situation, and should the relationship end or go through a rough patch, continue to treat the other person professionally. The same goes if everything is working out well. No planning the wedding on work hours! Workers should leave their personal lives at home, even when they have let their work life into the private realm.
