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Most American companies have no written policy on workplace romance, reports The New York Times. In a January survey by the Society of Human Resource Management, 72 percent of human-resource professionals said their company had no such policy, written or unwritten. And of those whose companies did have a policy, more than half said it discouraged office romances but did not forbid them. The most likely outcome of a workplace romance, the professionals said, was marriage.
Certainly, when sexual harassment does occur, more and more companies are rightly taking a strong stance against the predator in the relationship. But when it comes to "inappropriate relationships" between consenting parties, the picture is far less clear. The ethical issue facing chief executives, boards, company owners and managers should not be whether an executive who dates an employee half his age ought to keep his job. It should be: ``What effect does this behaviour have on our company and, no less important, on the rest of ouremployees?'' Framed that way, the issue poses three main challenges: -- how can companies address workplace romances so that all parties are dealt with humanely? -- how can companies ensure that any condoned behaviour does not jeopardise other people's professional careers? -- how can companies prevent employees from using rank and power to trap others into relationships they do not want?
Most companies, though, do not see the problem as an ethical issue, but rather as a liability management problem. Specifically, they focus on avoiding the sexual harassment lawsuits that can spring from an office romance gone sour, or from other employees' perception that they are discriminated against for failing to bed the boss.
``We live in such a litigious society, where people are so willing to make claims,'' said Nancy Pritikin, a partner in the San Francisco office of Littler Mendelson, an employment law firm. ``And the claims are so expensive to deal with -- even when you win them -- that companies are reallystruggling with ways to avoid the problem.''
Among companies whose policies permit relationships between supervisors and subordinates, a recent development is insisting that the supervisor report the relationship to the human resources department. Then both parties are asked to sign a contract acknowledging their consent to the relationship. These "love contracts" may at first seem a ridiculous way to treat adults. But they are a sign that some companies have at least begun to grapple with a difficult issue. Coming up with thoughtful policies about workplace romance is not as clear-cut as writing policies against harassment is bad. When they discuss the appropriateness of workplace romance, however, the issue gets murkier. ``I don't know whether our society is prepared to take the step of saying you cannot date anyone you work with,'' Ms Pritikin said. ``But disclosure is one step in the right direction for the manager, company and individual, so they can be sure that no one's being taken advantageof.
``Sure, we're talking about pretty private behaviour here,'' she continued. ``But when you're a manager or a supervisor, you can't expect that you can have a completely private relationship with a person at work who reports to you.''
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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