There have been a slew of reports recently about executives carrying on affairs that end up coming back to bite them. The most notable headline: CIA Director David Petraeus’s affair with his biographer, a relationship that directly led to his resignation.
In another report, an exec, the president of Lockheed Martin Corp., was forced to resign after his affair with a subordinate was uncovered.
While these relationships were clearly inappropriate due to security and ethics reasons, it’s not always so easy to simply prohibit employees from dating.
“Companies need to acknowledge that relationships between colleagues may occur and provide guidelines around what is acceptable and what is not,” advises Halley Bock, CEO of Fierce, Inc., in a feature on HR.BLR.com®. “For example, relationships between supervisors and direct reports are prohibited and professional behavior is required at all times.”
On the other hand, dating between coworkers—where a manager/employee relationship does not exist—is harder to prohibit. In some companies it may almost be inevitable. Take for example a CareerBuilder® survey that revealed that 40% of employees will date a colleague.
In this case, employers may want to consider creating a ‘dating policy.’ A consensual relationship agreement (also known as a “love contract” or “dating policy”) can help employers reduce potential liability.
Have office romances impacted your workplace?
i think there is no need to restrict any employee or colleague to create dating or any other relations but they should follow the rules and regulations of company they should never try to destroy the harmony and decipline of any organizations or well as any company.
I think it’s ridiculous to restrict any employee from dating any other employee. Let’s face it, we spend more time at work than anywhere else so it’s unrealistic to think that connections of that nature won’t happen. As long as people stay professional it shouldn’t impact the work place.