Such as this one…Sex at work AOK with Employees. I admit that it is a guilty pleasure of mine to read such titillating articles, such things are the equivalent of Cosmopolitan for us HR folks. It is a great disappointment to me that in all my years in HR I have never had to deal with an affair amongst coworkers. I have been aware of affairs but they were quite boring and the people involved provided absolutely no entertainment or drama whatsoever. It has been a let down.
I have never seen fit to incorporate a policy regarding office romance; it could be because I do not feel organizations have any business messing around in the personal lives of employees. It is entirely
possible that the majority of people involved in romances in the office are mature enough to handle a relationship without HR getting involved. And who made HR the final word on relationships and emotional entanglements anyway?
Having a policy prohibiting intimate relationships between employees certainly sends a message that there is no point in flirting, or hitting on an employee. This may help decrease the incidence of sexual harassment but in my experience the type of people who engage in sexual harassment (which is in EVERY policy manual that has ever been written in any company, maybe in the whole wide world) are hardly thwarted by a policy.
Let's face it, employees spend a lot of time together, often in stressful circumstances. Relationships are created, how many of us met some of our closest friends through work (Hi MED, right back at you TB, thanks for the chat today KD)? Relationships amongst humans are natural, normal and really should not be legislated by policies. I may be an optimist at heart but I do think the majority of individuals involved in office romances handle it with discretion and maturity. It would be a shame to start managing by exception.
And based on that article, most of you agree.
I have never seen fit to incorporate a policy regarding office romance; it could be because I do not feel organizations have any business messing around in the personal lives of employees. It is entirely
possible that the majority of people involved in romances in the office are mature enough to handle a relationship without HR getting involved. And who made HR the final word on relationships and emotional entanglements anyway?
Having a policy prohibiting intimate relationships between employees certainly sends a message that there is no point in flirting, or hitting on an employee. This may help decrease the incidence of sexual harassment but in my experience the type of people who engage in sexual harassment (which is in EVERY policy manual that has ever been written in any company, maybe in the whole wide world) are hardly thwarted by a policy.
Let's face it, employees spend a lot of time together, often in stressful circumstances. Relationships are created, how many of us met some of our closest friends through work (Hi MED, right back at you TB, thanks for the chat today KD)? Relationships amongst humans are natural, normal and really should not be legislated by policies. I may be an optimist at heart but I do think the majority of individuals involved in office romances handle it with discretion and maturity. It would be a shame to start managing by exception.
And based on that article, most of you agree.
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