The sun is shining, the warm summer evenings are long, drinks after work… And where is this heading? Well, yes, quite often to workplace romances!
Did you know research has shown that more than six out of ten individuals who work in an office environment have had an office fling of some sort? But how do managers deal with relationships at work if they arise? With employees spending the best part of eight or nine hours together every day of the week the hope of it being plain sailing is often futile!
So, what can you do as an employer to ensure it doesn’t affect your business?
Don’t be a dictator when it comes to office romances! Putting an outright ban on dating probably isn’t the answer and would be extremely time consuming to try and police. You also run the risk of your staff being tempted to sneak around if you enforce a strict no dating policy, human nature and all that!
The alternative to being an office dictator is to have a few simple rules on personal relationships at work. For example;
-Relationships must not interfere with work duties or impact on other colleagues.
-Public displays of affection in the workplace should be discouraged!
-Consider also adopting a separate policy on work-related social events – that could be useful now we are in the ‘summer party season!’
-If you learn that two colleagues have hooked up, be careful not to over react, but do follow up if they don’t follow simple behavioural rules about dating in the workplace.
-If a workplace relationship breaks down, that can cause real issues for employers. What if the 2 people can no longer work together? Think carefully before taking action.
If love is in the air and you feel it’s impacting on your business, call the HR Department who can advise you about policies to help you put your business first.
Contact Simon Morgan, The HR Dept. simon.morgan@hrdept.co.uk – 0345 634 9154.