20th December
“Christmas time – mistletoe and wine..” , the perfect recipe for a new office romance – or the breaking up of an old one. Office relationships can bring an array of problems for employers and there was a time when they seemed keen to ban them altogether through strict rules in their contracts and handbooks. Nowadays, a more flexible approach tends to be the best policy, and a policy is the key word here. So put this on your ‘New Year To Do List’:
When drafting your policy, identify the areas where a work place relationship might be damaging for your business and focus on measures to limit the potential negatives. Employees will be less inclined to hide their relationship if they know the news will be positively received and no one is at risk of losing their job as a result. It may be that preventing partners working in the same team or department is a sensible step to take and avoiding situations where one partner is a direct supervisor or manager of the other is generally justified. And look at what happens if one partner leaves. Your concern will naturally be that this poses a security and confidentiality threat, not to mention the possibility of competition, so revisit your post termination restrictions now and make sure they can be enforced if necessary. Don’t leave it until after the horse (or donkey) has bolted.
