Hi all
I've just been reading February's edition of People Management & came across the article "What's wrong with sex in the office?" - quite fitting as it's Valentine's Day n all.
For those of you that haven't read the article it's about relationships that develop in the workplace and how companies manage this or not, as the case may be. The general jist seems to be that you cannot control relationships developing but there are probably agreed standards of behaviour & conduct people must adhere to and ways to handle things should conflicts arise.
So i was wondering if anyone has a policy on workplace relationships? Is it part of your Code of Conduct? How do you deal with them if things end badly?
We have an Employee Relationships Policy & Procedure that was introduced early last year after consultation with staff & TU's. We have had a situation in which a couple were married, divorced and he has since remarried someone else in the organisation. There is a lot of animosity so we are unable to let them work from the same building or be put on the same training course. It can be a bit of a minefield! However, on the other side of it there are couples who have met at work who are now happily married with kids.
Would be interested to hear your thoughts & experiences on this.
Jill
Replies
We have a specific policy not to employee direct family members in the same business area. The main reason for this is because of issues that have arisen in the past.
This policy also applies to 'close intimate relationships' that develop between employees. Part of the policy states that if two employees develop an intimate relationship they must declare this to their manager. The issue comes when the two employees work in the same team, as the policy does not allow this. We therefore, work with them both to move one of them to a different team (the main part of our business has large teams doing the same job, so this works).
However, we recently had an issue where two people developed a relationship, both reported to the same manager and worked in a specialist support team with no suitable alternative reporting lines available. We therefore, had to ask them to either end the relationship or one of them had to resign. As luck would have it, a suitable alternative role came up in a different business area, which one of them applied for and was successful in being offered the job. They are soon to be married!
We have also had a recent issue with two employees who's relationship ended because of them had initiated another relationship with someone else in the business. A very messy and sensitive situation to have to deal with.
Hi Steve
Thanks for this, really interesting to hear from someone who has specific policies.
Are employees made aware of these policies when they start working so they know what to expect if they do get into a relationship with a colleague? To be honest I think there'd be uproar at my company if someone had to either end the relationship or move areas! However I do see it from the business point of you and the problems personal relationships can cause in the workplace.
Sounds like a lot of fun and games for you to deal with! Never a dull moment in HR hey?
We had a situation where two people were having an affair at work & rather graphic emails were sent, both employees were suspended during the investigation which made things awkward as the partner of one of those involved also worked for us. Pretty messy really.
Jill
Hi Jill,
This isn’t a specific topic that is discussed when they join us, but it forms part of their T's & C's in the employee handbook and all employees are required to sign a form in their first couple of weeks to confirm they have read the handbook.
Funnily enough we have had a very similar situation to one you have described, but without the graphic emails. It becomes very interesting from a HR point of view when multiple employees are involved/affected.
I also have a friend who works for a global company in the automotive industry and the stories he tells me are enough to send you running for a Solicitor!
Steve
This is something I have come across as I met my husband at my last company where I started as a receptionist and moved into HR. Then I left and 7 months later he applied for an interview at our company. Obviously I didn't interview him and the Manager recruiting him did say recently he already had a black mark against him as he didn't agree with couples working together, but he said he was the best person for the job. He went through some tough interviewing and so again we work together and if it wasn't for our last name people wouldn't know we were married. He knows he can't ask me things and only time I see him is when he has issues with his staff or wants me to run some reports for him! I can go the whole day without seeing or speaking to him so it works very well and it hasn't impacted on either of us from a professional point of view. We have a number of couples, sisters, mother & daughters in our business and to date the only one that causes an issue is our Sales Director going out with our Sales Manager!!
Hi Rachel
Can that manager actually say that about the black mark thing?
Do you have a policy at work or is it just the common sense approach?
Yeah we also have a lot of family connections in our organisation, it can be a bit confusing sometimes to be honest! That are I'm a bit dense haha.
I'm glad it works well for you. Do you travel in to work together as well?
Jill
Hi Jill,
It was more a tongue in cheek after the event!
We don't have a policy as its never caused any issues so very much about common sense (if only Health and Safety followed the same!!)
I agree, it can get a tad confusing, we have 2 sisters who both have forneame that begins with L so have to be careful processing their payroll, they live together too!!
Yes saves in petrol!!
Rachel
Oh well that's good as long as it was tongue in cheek!
Do you have a rule of only talking about work in the car & once you get home you talk about other stuff? hehe
an article in Personnel Today about workplace relationships
Just came across this article so thought I'd add it here :)
I wasn't able to open the research findings (there is a link within the article) so I haven't been able to examine the detail regarding how many employers surveyed answered which questions, or find out the type of businesses that were surveyed.
You might find it interesting though.
Thanks for that Alison, it is definitely a common occurence in many organisations i imagine there will be an increase in workplace policies to try to support both the employees and the organisation.
I guess there is an unwritten rule (well in my head anyway) that says don't fraternise with work colleagues. I have however seen it from both sides of the coin and I think in smaller organisations it can become more of an issue.
One of my good friends met his now wife at work and whilst they didn't work in the same department they met in training and have enjoyed a great relationship ever since. Another work colleague met her husband for dinner every day and again whilst working in different departments they saw each other regularly and were very happy. These two cases demonstrate it can work in certain situations however having seen it when it can go badly the fall out / repercussions can be very damaging indeed.
Irrelevant of Code of Conduct or Policies you can't suppress human emotions and for me common sense must prevail - that said when human emotions are involved does common sense ever prevail!
What are your views Jill?
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