Cupid in the office?

The HR Dept has many a time dealt with issues around relationships in the workplace. As today is Valentine's Day, we thought we would share some Q&A’s to highlight how relationships in the workplace can often be a troublesome issue for employers:

Last week I caught two of my young employees getting too close for comfort in the stationery cupboard! What do I do?

Whose comfort, yours or theirs? If you have a policy about workplace relationships, see each of them individually and make sure they understand the rules. If not, then spell out the rules in the meeting i.e. not wasting working time canoodling or sending loads of emails and text messages. We will send you some HR Dept tissues as the course of young love never does run smoothly.

Around 20% people meet their long term partner in the office

One of my employees is saying they don't want Valentines flowers or chocolates around the office because of her beliefs, I’m at a loss.

Whilst we may believe that this is a commercially exploited event, St Valentine’s Day has been around since the Middle Ages and is a Christian celebration. Realistically disliking it is not going to count as a philosophical belief. Tell her to ignore the flowers and say you will eat her share of the chocs if they are handed round.

One of my staff is hoping her partner is going to propose on the 14^th and wants to provisionally book the 15^th off but able to cancel it if he does not.

Well let’s hope he does then or she will be absolutely no use to you on the 15^th if he does not. Better she takes the holiday come what may.

If workplace romance is destroying productivity in your business, then speak to us!

What's love got to do with it?

Quite a lot actually. In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s that time of year again. Love is in the air, or should I say, in the office. With over 70% of single employees becoming romantically involved with someone on the job at some point in their careers, today’s workplace has become the new “singles bar”. In fact, the workplace has also become the number one place for married men and women to meet affair partners and conduct extramarital affairs. I suppose it’s not surprising seeing as we spend a third or more of our lives at work. But for employers, the office romance can make for dangerous ground. Handled well, it can lead to a relationship. Handled badly, it can lead to a lawsuit for harassment.
The HR Dept says: “While relationships between colleagues are commonplace, it is important for employers to try to restrict activities that are harmful to the business. It is your responsibility to make the company policy on harassment clear to all employees, and if you don’t have one, you need to generate one right now.”
The difficulty comes in distinguishing when flirting crosses the line to become harassment. If an employee is not interested in, or receptive to, an advance from another employee, it should end there. Playing around, banter, etc. are appropriate preludes to dating, but only if the receiving party is comfortable with them. In most cases, mutually-agreeable relationships pose no danger to the company. However, there are instances where they are inappropriate. For instance, The HR Dept suggests, “it is never a good idea for a manager to be romantically involved with a subordinate in their own organisation. Situations such as this should be clearly spelled out in the company policy as inappropriate and subject to corrective action”.

The HR Dept specialises in advising small and medium sized businesses on all employment issues. Here are their 3 top tips for managing love in the office.

• Have a clear policy on what someone should do if they have a relationship at work.

• Treat everyone like adults, not like renegade teenagers.

• Have the tissues ready, should it end like a teenage romantic crush!