Office romances are a common issue facing many employers. According to research performed on behalf of the job-search website CareerBuilder, more than one-third of all employees are willing to admit that they have engaged in an office romance at some point during their career. While being a matchmaker might be pleasing to some, employers should know there are many potential risks involved in workplace romances.
To help protect yourself from these potential risks, having a robust HR department and the right policies can be essential. For medium or growing small businesses, relying on a professional employer organization (PEO) like Einstein HR is a great way to protect your business without breaking the bank. To learn more about what we can do for you, call us at 770-962-1700.
Your Potential Risks
As an employer, you may believe that what your employees do after they clock out for the day shouldn’t affect you. As far as the National Labor Rights Act is concerned, the law is certainly behind you. With workplace romances, however, employees’ relationships can and will likely bleed into what your employees are doing during working hours.
Favoritism
Favoritism is one potential risk that may occur when a workplace romance develops. While this could be more likely to occur if the relationship is between a supervisor and a subordinate, concerns about favoritism may arise even if the employees are on the same level of the business’s hierarchy. This favoritism, or even the appearance of it, can lead to employee discontent, which will affect how well your business is run.
Sexual Harassment
If a workplace romance ends, it is not always going to end with both parties being content with the split. An upset ex-romantic partner may take out their frustrations with the break-up in the workplace. This may result in behavior that constitutes sexual harassment, which must be addressed promptly and effectively, lest it end with employee departures or legal trouble for your business.
Making the Work Environment Uncomfortable
Even if nothing goes wrong with the relationship, its existence may still be problematic for other employees. Public displays of affection, for example, may make other employees feel uncomfortable. Depending on the nature of your business and the employees’ positions, it may be viewed as unprofessional behavior by clients or customers.
Mitigating the Potential Risks of a Workplace Romance
These potential risks of a workplace romance could lead to less productivity, employees looking for a job elsewhere, or even civil liability. As such, it is in your best interest to be proactive about setting the right sort of policies to mitigate these risks. A few examples of policies you might implement include:
- The disclosure of any workplace romance or at least the disclosure of supervisor/subordinate relationships
- Removing responsibilities that could create potential conflicts of interest (hiring/firing, performance reviews, team assignments,etc.)
- Limiting or eliminating public displays of affection in the workplace
When a workplace romance develops, there might not be any initial problems and therefore might not feel compelled to initiate any policy addressing the potential problems. However, the sorts of difficulties that may arise don’t always show up right away. It may be weeks or months before things come to a head and it may be too late to properly address by that point.
Because of this, it’s important to have the right sorts of policies in place and to be consistent in their application. A failure to be consistent with your policies may only cause the problems to get worse and could open you up to new liability. Training employees on these policies and making them a part of your employee handbook is essential to protecting your business.
We Can Help You Build Your HR Policies!
If you’re running a small or midsize business, you might not have the dedicated HR staff necessary to implement all the policies you’d like to mitigate the potential risks of a workplace romance. Likewise, you may not be sure what you’re legally allowed to do with these policies, as federal, state, and local laws interact differently throughout the country.
Fortunately, Einstein HR is here to help you with all your HR needs. We can help you craft the right sorts of workplace romance policies for your business. We also offer a multitude of additional services, including payroll, benefits, and workers compensation administration, .
To get started expanding your business with Einstein HR, call us at 770-962-1700, or drop a line with the easy-to-use form on our contact page.