Fix Your Team

Chapter 5 WORKPLACE ROMANCE: Keep it professional

SYMPTOMS

• Everyone knows that two members of the team are having an affair.
• One colleague is found crying in the bathroom or having long conversations on their mobile in the car park; often one or the other is absent from work altogether.
• Gossip is rife.
• The two colleagues now avoid each other religiously, refusing to engage with each other, even when they have to attend the same meetings or work together on a project.
• Team members are taking sides, or trying to avoid both of the former partners, causing ructions in the team.
• One or both employees are considering leaving the organisation.

WHAT’S GOING ON

Given the amount of time we all spend at work, it’s not surprising that many of us will meet our romantic partner there. Although the percentage is decreasing (thanks to online dating), a significant number of us meet our partner at work. In 2015, around 10 per cent of American couples first met at work.

Note that in this section we focus on two colleagues who have been in a consensual romantic or sexual relationship that has ended — not one person inappropriately pursuing a colleague, which is called sexual harassment.

‘Keep it professional’

Employees who are in a relationship at work often try to ‘compartmentalise’ their professional and personal lives, and hide their relationship from their colleagues. Usually this is not a problem until the relationship ends and strong negative emotions surface. The breakup of a relationship ...