Workplace romances are a fact of life. Some statistics suggest that as many as 40% of employees report having had a workplace romance at some point in their career. Though organizations are often concerned about the potential performance and legal ramifications of in-house workplace romances, general attitudes toward them appear to be changing; employees are much less secretive about workplace romances than they have been in the past.
THE RESEARCH STUDY
In this study, the researcher (Cole, 2009) interviewed 100 employees who reported witnessing a workplace romance. In general, study participants reported that the fairest managerial action was to treat these relationships as inevitable and take little or no action against the employees involved. However, managerial action was considered fair if the workplace romance had a negative impact on the work environment or job performance. In fact, under these conditions, coworkers may find too little managerial action unfair. Additionally, employees find managerial action against workplace romances fair when the parties work in the same department and when the organization has a formal written policy on the matter.
Although the positive effects of workplace romances are sometimes discussed in the literature, the researcher notes that none of the participants actually mentioned the potential positive effects. When participants discussed effects on performance and the work environment, they were always negative. Thus, if positive outcomes are present, coworkers may not typically perceive them.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Although organizations may have little control over the existence of workplace romances, the study results highlight the importance of having formal, written policies about them. Surprisingly, most organizations do not have written workplace romance policies, although they probably should. Written policies legitimize managerial action in response to these relationships and improve coworker perceptions of such action. Overall, employees seem accepting of workplace romances, so long as they do not negatively impact the work environment or job performance.
Cole, N. (2009). Workplace romance: A justice perspective. Journal of Business and Psychology, 24, 363-372.
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