Love's Labour's Lost: Spinoffs from office romances can affect productivity, morale - Legacy Bowes Grou
Love's Labour's Lost: Spinoffs from office romances
can affect productivity, morale
Posted On Feb 26, Posted by Barbara Bowes Category Working World - Organizational
According to recent news, Winnipeg has scored No. 15 in the list of most romantic cities. This
so-called accomplishment is based on an analysis of retail sales for romance novels, romantic
comedy DVDs and CDs, as well as sex and relationship books.
Should we complement ourselves? I don't think so! In my view, this rating involves quite the
stretch of one's imagination. After all, was the data analyzed by age, gender or even the reason
behind the purchase? If not, then does the data really have meaning?
Hmm, I think this news is better slotted for April Fool's day!
Yet, just what is the status of romance in today's workplace? According to the annual 2012
Careerbuilder and Harris Poll survey, an average of one in four employees has dated someone
from their workplace. This included 28 per cent who dated a colleague from a higher level in the
hierarchy and at least 18 per cent who had dated their boss. The survey also suggests that one
in three of these workplace romances led to marriage.
Interestingly enough, it seems that certain industries also lend themselves to more workplace
romance than others. For instance, it's reported the hospitality industry had a higher average
number of office romances than any other industry sector. Next in line are the transportation
and utility industries followed by information technology and health care.
Workplace romances may be more common today because, let's face it, we spend more time at
work than we do at home. And with more women in the workplace, people frequently joke about
their so-called office spouses. These are the men and women with whom employees spend
most of their day and develop close relationships, although not in a romantic sense.
Yet, in many cases, a real office romance is simply no joke. In fact, an office romance can
literally destroy a once harmonious work environment. For instance, if the romance is not public,
then the environment will be filled with gossip. In spite of the fact it's not anyone's business, I
guarantee that too much time will be spent watching, listening, talking and trying to confirm the
situation. As well, many employees are uncomfortable with outward displays of affection
between the office lovebirds and don't know how to handle this interaction. The situation is even
worse when it involves an illicit affair. The result? Work productivity goes down.
Another common problem with workplace romance is the perception of favouritism. Colleagues
may perceive the so-called love interest to be given more challenging assignments, offered a
seat in coveted training programs or being invited to meetings not normally attended by the
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Love's Labour's Lost: Spinoffs from office romances can affect productivity, morale - Legacy Bowes Grou
individual employee. The result? Once again, you will quickly find gossip as well as the more
exaggerated feelings of jealousy or anger that can in turn lead to avoidance and isolation. What
about work? Yes, you'll see a decline in work productivity.
On the other hand, what happens if the workplace romance fizzles? How do the former
lovebirds cope? As with any parting couple, the once love-struck pair will typically become
angry, sad, and bitter, and because they are no longer on speaking terms, they struggle to work
alongside each other. Is quality work getting done? I don't think so.
What about the workplace colleagues? How do they cope with these two people who were once
joined at the hip and are now worst enemies? Let's face it, people take sides when they find
themselves in the middle of this kind of drama. Still other employees use up all of their energy
tiptoeing carefully so as not to upset either party. Once again, as tempers flare, teamwork
disappears and work productivity goes down.
If you add up the total decline in workplace productivity overall, you'll quickly see that an entire
department or organization can be negatively affected. No wonder employers struggle so much
when this type of situation occurs. Yet, strangely enough, few organizations prepare for this
inevitable yet rather sticky employee problem.
So, what can an employer do to get ahead of the curve, especially when romance can't be
legislated? First of all, define for your organization what a professional and harmonious
workplace is all about. Communicate this to all employees through your training programs.
Ensure that your HR policies include respect and harassment in the workplace and outline
expectations should a romantic liaison occur. In some cases, organizations wish to go as far as
establishing a policy that prohibits supervisors/managers from dating a direct report.
Still other employers such as large publicly traded companies go so far as asking those
employees involved in a romantic relationship to sign a "love contract." These are actual legal
instruments that require the couple to confirm and acknowledge their relationship to
management. Love contracts are intended specifically to protect the employer and reduce any
claims for sexual harassment.
But does an organization really have to go that far? Not usually. In most cases, what works best
is simply for a manager to have an informal meeting with each member of the liaison party, spell
out the expectations going forward, monitor the behaviour and intervene if they must.
Workplace romances from the employee side definitely have their drawbacks. In fact, some
might compare this to a Las Vegas roulette table. Your chances of long-term success are slim
because the table is weighted against you. And so, the best advice and the solution to
preventing heartache is to proceed with caution while entering into a workplace romance.
Workplace romance is a serious concern for managers because it is so difficult to deal with,
especially when things start to go wrong. However, a manager's responsibility is to ensure a
safe and harmonious workplace for all concerned and this means stepping in and intervening in
a workplace romance if and when it's appropriate. A manager's motto is always, "expect the
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Love's Labour's Lost: Spinoffs from office romances can affect productivity, morale - Legacy Bowes Grou
unexpected" and with sexual harassment claims becoming more frequent, managers cannot
afford to put their organization at risk. Nor can they spend all their time dealing with employee
discontent, ill will, low morale and declining productivity.
Our great city rated a score of No. 15 in the list of most romantic cities based on an analysis of
retail sales for romance novels, romantic comedy DVDs and CDs as well as sex and
relationship books. Perhaps, thankfully we didn't score higher as I would hate to think what it
might mean for workplace romance.
Source: The State of Office Romance, Forbes Magazine, 2/10/12
Tags: workplace behaviour , employee romance , workplace romance , office romance
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