Policy on Workplace Romances
April 12, 2006 by Sasha Manuel
Filed under Relationships
I know we’ve been talking about giving Office Dating a go or about tips for love in the workplace here at Dating Dames for the past few weeks. Now, I’ll be talking more about it just because I wanted to share this article I came across today. Hehehe.
Yea, you probably guessed it, it’s about Office Romance Policies being formally established in some US companies.
The reason behind the creation of such policies, is to avoid troubles which can arise if things get sour between the partners. Some of the major problems that can occur are harassment, discrimination or a hostile work environment, and minor but notable one is PDA or public display of affection, which goes against professionalism. This becomes a company problem instead of a personal one for it disrupts production or operation flow and creates dissension.
It said that it is best to have an established company policy that provides a guideline on how management can deal with office romances since it’s already a given that the company cannot stop their employees from dating. It’s good that a company is on top of this particular issue otherwise their customers may then be affected in the long run if they can’t control it.
The FPIC Insurance Group is one of the companies that takes this matter seriously. It said that they were considering a Non-Fraternization Policy on top of the office romance policy that’s in effect within the company since 2002.
One of the policies that’s being implemented by the company is: “Managers or senior-level employees are prohibited from having a romantic or sexual relationship with other employees who directly or indirectly report to such manager. If a romantic or sexual relationship develops, that relationship has to be immediately disclosed to HR.”
Based on that example, the current policy doesn’t legislate relationships between coworkers, it only restricts alliances between supervisors and their subordinates.
According to the Society for Human Resource Management [SHRM] survey, the most common action taken after an office romance doesn’t work out is to transfer one worker to another part of the company. Other actions might include a formal reprimand, counseling, termination or demotion.
SHRM and CareerJournal.com’s 2006 Workplace Romance study says:
“..more than 70 percent of surveyed organizations did not have formal written or verbal policies dealing with romantic liaisons between employees. HR experts say that is just asking for trouble.”
I reckon companies are only protecting their assets. I really cannot blame them if there are people out there who act before they think and ultimately jeopardise their careers.
Dear me, I knew there was a reason why I don’t do office romances. Pffft. 
Source: BizJournal
i have worked for a company for almost 8 years, and have been dating a co-worker for 7 years. Recently I was told that I had to move to another department because they said that boyfriends and girlfriends can’t work in the same department. My question is after 7 years, they just know thought of this rule. According to them (management) it has always been in play. How come it just comes up now? And let me also say that I am a black female in a interracial relationship. So, if it was just recently implemented, does that apply to me. Or is it the black and white thing……AGAIN…..