Office Romance Has Its Fair Share Of Pitfalls

By Jennifer Williams

It is quite commonplace these days to have an office romance and it could culminate in either marriage or in a lawsuit. The office is a place where people spend a lot of time with each other and if the situations are handled well can lead to a relationship and if done the wrong way, can end up in the courtrooms of law.

It should not come as any big surprise that office romance springs up since people spend a third of their time at the office or place of work and being a non-threatening environment there is plenty of opportunity to meet dating partners. However, the romantic involvement between employees is fraught with danger for both the employee as well as for the employer.

Several companies have contemplated banning dating among employees but such plans have never come to fruition mainly due to legal constraints and also because many believe it to be an inevitable occurrence anyway. The only restrictions that a company may impose on their employees are that office romances should not impinge on the business or integrity of the company.

Companies Need Rules Regulating Relationships

Allowing an office romance to take place requires a company policy that clarifies aspects such as harassment and what should be done if an employee is uninterested or unresponsive to advances from a fellow employee. Horsing around as well as verbal jousts can be interpreted as signs of dating requests and the harassment policy should be clear about how an employee may be protected in case he or she is not interested.

If employees enter into a mutually agreeable office romance there should not be any danger posed to the interests of the company. However, it often happens that inappropriate and harmful relationships may develop when a manager becomes romantically involved with a subordinate within the organization and the company policy should restrict such relationships along with corrective measures should one be discovered.

There are a few reasons why office romance would not be a suitable course of action and these include not always having a happy ending, which could lead to personal issues bleeding over to the work function. They also require more energy and it may not stay private for too long as well as the possibility of being harassed. So, before entering into an office romance, it may be better to check out other alternatives like meeting non-work related friends to judge whether the office romance is real or not as the results may surprise you.

Author Details:
Jennifer Williams, copywriter for various web sites writing articles about romance and other related subjects.

Article Source: The A-Z of Romance

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