...is one of the reasons why business implement rules on office romance. If they’re not paying attention to Cupid’s arrows amid the flow charts and balance sheets, they could be in for unexpected surprises. Disastrous love affairs may damage morale and productivity. Some workplace romances can lead to sexual harassment cases, which can carry serious legal – and financial - consequences. Yet few small companies have formal policies on workplace dating and even fewer ban such romances. In large part, that’s because firms believe it’s none of their business if co-workers pair up. It’s understandable why office love connections flourish: People spend much of their lives at work and end up sharing hobbies, personality quirks and intimacies. Dating co-workers seem safer, especially for many women, because they get time to know each other. Moreover, many employees share similar education, interests, attitudes, values, and income levels. And often work projects offer intellectual stimulation and emotional bonding. Far from being harmful, many romances actually improve work performances. They add a dynamism and energy that translates into enhanced morale, communication, creativity and even productivity. Should these relationships evolve into long-term commitments, as often happens, companies will generally benefit from happier and more fulfilled employees. So it appears the key issue isn’t thwarting workplace romances so much as managing them. That has special relevance for small...
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...and Organizational Behavior Author Note In today’s society, most employers antagonize significant issues such as office romances and subjects that relate to sex and confidentiality. Romantic affairs are emerging more frequently since employees are working overtime and spending additional time on the job. A romance in the workplace is sometimes the only choice for employees whose work limits their extracurricular activities. However, these workplace relationships tend to be a problem as the legal responsibility connected with these romances rises. A few businesses prohibit all workplace romances, whereas others have no policy at all to address these matters. Most businesses fall in between and have policies that ban relationships or discourage distinct workplace romances. A CRA (Consensual Relationship Agreement) is essentially a written “contract” in which the romantically involved parties acknowledge the following: * Their relationship is voluntary and consensual. * They agree to abide by the employer’s antidiscrimination, anti-harassment, and workplace conduct policies. * They promise to report any perceived harassment to a management, if it occurs. * They agree to behave professionally and not to allow the relationship to affect their performance. * They agree to avoid behavior that offends others in the workplace. * They agree not to engage in favoritism. This is especially an issue if one of the employees is in a higher management position...
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...the workplace policy and guidelines of any job is important. There are also many opinions on why this policy is unnecessary, and can give the vibe of invading one’s personal space. Implementing such a policy will allow for the company to have a surety in place, so that the company is safe from lawsuits, and being solely liable for any mishappenings of those involved. Implementing these types of policies may also convey the sense of fairness to all. There are two ethical principles: sexual harassment, and stakeholder responsibility, that I feel are major aspects on the whys and the hows of the Consensual Relationship Agreement. There has been endless episodes of romance and dating at the workplace. Most businesses were off-hands when it came to the matters of love and dating on the job. “The issue is not going away”, says Helaine Olen, coauthor of Office Mate: The Employee Handbook for Finding --- and Managing--- Romance on the job (Adams Media, 2007). It is really vital for those in leadership positions to accept the likelihood of romance and dating at the workplace. It is also crucial for there to be some sort of policy and procedure in place, to be prepared to deal with any happenings, dealing with the aftermath of these said relationships. If they tried to forbid the dating it was like using reverse psychology. The more it is forbidden, the more likely, one is to partake in it, just to be vindictive. Organizations that discourage or prohibit workplace romances are...
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...Workplace Romance: Wrong or Right? By Chelse Benham ”Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold — but so does a hard-boiled egg.” - Unknown The office affair can make a seducer, seductress and sinner out of people. In fact, workplace romance is so common, research indicates that one-third of all relationships begin at work. Often times they become the focus of intense gossip and may end badly creating disruption, disharmony and devastation in their wake. “In our ‘Succeed in the Workplace’ workshop we stress that students need to focus on their career, their job and work culture. They need to have that squared away before considering a romance in the office. We tell people to keep the work environment professional. If they can’t keep their work relationship professional then that’s not a good sign,” said Lourdes Servantes, placement specialist at The University of Texas-Pan American’s Career Placement Services Office. “Be mature and professional at all times and keep all relationship items, sweet-talk, public-display-of-affection and inappropriate behavior, away from the work environment.” In an effort to explain the rise of workplace romance, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) found that office romance has more chances to start because now women comprise 46 percent of the workforce and people work longer hours - citing that one in 10 Americans works more than 60 hours a week. BLS points to further occurrences...
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...Romance between Superior and Subordinate St. Petersburg College Saturday 23 February 2013 I. Introduction The overview for this research contains the issues of having any romantic relationship with a co-worker particularly between a superior and his or her subordinate. Included in this paper are some of the assessment key points such as: factors that contribute to the development of romantic feelings, the impacts that romantic relationship create for any organization, the implications of personal interests on professionalism, and probable consequences that resulted from such relationship[s]. This part is both vital and critical in the research since this will indicate any interest of the readers to further get hooked with the said topic presented. II. Key Findings * Factors that contribute to the to the development of romantic feeling According to Charles E. Pierce, Donn Byrne, and Herman Aguinis via their journal titled ‘Attractions in organizations: a model of workplace romance’, the intimate contact between male and female employees has increased due to the sexual integration in the workplace. It was mentioned that having such romantic links or feelings toward a boss and his or her subordinate is not far from happening since it a report, there are more and more people spending increasing amounts of time at work and at the same time, there are more single people in the workplace. In a survey, today, workplace...
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...Consensual Relationship Agreements There are many challenges in the workplace. Office romance today is having to profound effect on corporate attitudes, values, and beliefs. The workplace has become a viable meeting ground for individuals to get to know each other, date, and begin a romantic relationship. People tend to feel more comfortable dating a co-worker than someone they met at a bar or nightclub. According to a major report on interpersonal attraction written in 1969 by Ellen Bercheid and Elaine Walster, professors of Psychology at the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin, proximity is an important factor that explains why people become attracted to others. A February 15, 1988, Newsweek article reported that office romances are especially common in those professions in which employees are expected to spend long hours together on the job (Mainiero, 1989). This tends to put employers in a difficult position. Should workplace romance be managed or is any business of the company? Employers tend to take different stances when it comes to workplace romance. Some companies strictly forbid it, while some companies ignore it and hope that no one claims sexual harassment. Lastly, some companies have come up with policies that require disclosure of the relationship so that the employer can document the voluntary nature of the relationship and provide guidance for appropriate conduct in the workplace. These policies require employees that have entered into a relationship...
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...Relationship Agreements In life, people as individuals are either looking for relationships that define who they are or where they may want to be. Relationships also begin and end in the workplace and in today's society; organizations need to be aware of these situations. People spend an average of 40 hours a week at the workplace and as such, there is that close proximity which is bound to lead to workplace relationships. The use of Consensual Relationships Agreement (CRA) at a workplace requires a careful balance between the legitimate employee and employee privacy. (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011). A CRA may be defined as a written contract in which the romantically involved parties acknowledge that the relationship is voluntary and consensual, there is an agreement to abide by the employer’s anti-discrimination, anti-harassment, and workplace conduct policies, they are to behave professionally and not allow the relationship to affect their performance, they agree to avoid behavior that offends others in the workplace and agree not to show favoritism. This becomes an issue when higher management is one of the employees. (p. 65) Arguments for the use of Consensual Relationship Agreements Workplace romance generates multiple issues that can lead to poor job performance where the romance is visible and the employee may lose interest in their work. There may be accusations of poor judgment to make practical or fair decisions. (Tyler, 2008). There may be the breaking of ethical...
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...average about 40 plus hours a week at work, is no wonder how romance in the workplace happens. I met my husband in the workplace. Our President also met his wife at work. People that work together have some similar interest and hobbies so a connection is bound to happen. Weather we want it to happen or not work relationships happen all the time. Vault surveyed and 47 percent of individuals had been involved in office romance, 19 percent would consider it and 11 percent dated their manager (Hellriegel / Slocum, p.65). Office romance is an avoidable trend and instead of stopping it there should be some policies and procedures in place to address the issue when it occurs ( Losee & Olen, 2007). One policy that can be adopted is the consensual relationship agreement (CRA). A CRA often called love contracts it is a written contract between both parties that helps address some of the issues that office romance often creates. Office romance can end in a happy ending but they can also end in a sour note and in order for the employer to protect themselves using a CRA would be something to consider. In this paper i will discuss the pros and cons of using CRAs and give an alternative to address office romance as well as the ethics of using CRAs to address workplace romance. It is often troublesome to deal with a relationship that just ended, it is harder to deal with it when both parties work for the same company. When workplace romance goes sour it can lead to accusation of harassment, favoritism...
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...Conflict Resolution Paper Workplace romance is an issue in companies around the world. With full-time employees working forty or more hours each week, they tend to spend more time with their co-workers than with friends and family. This can lead to co-workers wanting to get to know each other as well as dating each other. An example of this in my experience was when I was an assistant manager at a retail store. The store manager at the time had started dating one of her subordinate associates. Rumors soon started around the store that the store manager was dating a certain associate. Other associates started to notice this particular associate would receive preferred shifts on a consistent basis. He would also be not on the schedule whenever the store manager was scheduled off. One day I was going from the sales floor to the stock room to check if we had a different size in stock for a customer. Once I walked in the stock room, I saw the two kissing. The stock room was a very large room. Once I realized what was going on, I stayed quiet and walked out within a few seconds. The two did not see me or notice anyone was even in the stock room. At this point, I contemplated having a talk with the store manager, as well as taking the issue straight to the district manager. I did not know exactly what to do because taking the issue to the district manager would be going behind my store manager’s back. I felt doing that could ruin our working relationship. Fortunately...
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...In the workplace today, some employers adopt policies on romance at work to prevent uncomfortable situations that might arise between coworkers. In other workplace environments, some employers do not adopt any policy regarding this issue at all. Still some employers create other documents that address romance in the workplace. The issues describe above as well as the different ethical issues associated with Consensual Relationship Agreements will be discussed in the upcoming paragraphs below. There are many pros for the use of Consensual Relationship Agreements in the workplace. In a study by Parks in 2006, fewer than 15% of employers had a policy dealing with romance or sexual relationships in the workplace (Parks, 2006). The workplace has always been a major place for individuals to meet and learn about each other. This proximity may lead to attraction and romance, which in turn could make more problems for the organization. According to Clark (2006), “About 80% of employees may be involved in or know of a workplace romance” (p. 350). Some employers try to ward off sexual harassment charges and other problems stemming from office romances by having the employees who are romantically involved read and sign a consensual relationship agreement. According to Schwartz and Storm (2000), “A sexual harassment lawsuit can arise from either 1. A supervisor who has a habit of asking subordinates out of dates; 2. An employee who files a lawsuit after a consensual relationship...
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...Consensual workplace agreements are being adopted by some companies it response to workplace romances. I am going to argue for the use of them and also counter against their merit. There will be a discussion of the ethics involved in their use. I also plan to give an alternative to the consensual workplace agreements. There are many reasons for using Consensual Relationship Agreements in the workplace. We will examine a few of the reasons I feel are that they are valid and have merit for use. These are protection from sexual harassment lawsuits, it will allow the inevitable workplace romance between employees, it sets boundaries for behavior at the workplace and can help with the levels of relationships if one or both move into different positions in the company. Most companies are concerned about the possibility of sexual harassment in the workplace. It is estimated that in the United States nearly 10 million workplace romances occur each year, and that nearly 40% of all employees have had one. (Pierce & Aguinis, 2009) This is of concern for the employer. Keeping the workplace romance in the open and having those involved, by signing a consensual relationship agreement, may help with a reduction of raising sexual harassment lawsuits. The agreement of the relationship may help in instances where the romance dissolves. Also if the relationship is clandestine then it could turn into one party accusing the other of duress or coercion. Since we know that workplace romantic...
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...Agreement Case StudyIn the job world of today, office romances have become an issues confronted by most employers. Some employers ban all workplace dating, while other employers have nopolicy at all to these issues. Most employers, however fall somewhere in between, with explicit or at least implicit policies that forbid or discourage certain workplace relationships. Consensual relationship policies are an important tool in managing the risk of sexual harassment and discrimination claims. However, they must be thoughtfully created and administered with care With more employees working longer days relationships at work are consistently developing more frequently. Workplace romance may be the only option for employees whose work load limits their outside activities; but for employers, this trend may prove problematic as the potential liability associated with these relationships rises (Wilson, Filosa, et al, 2003). Employers have had to develop new ways to protect not only the company but themselves from this potential disaster. One type of these new policy’s that are being adopted is a consensual relationship agreement (CRA). A CRA is essentially a “contract” in which the romantically involved parties acknowledge the following: • Their relationship is voluntary and consensual. • They agree to abide by the employer’s antidiscrimination, anti-harassment, and workplace conduct policies. • They promise to report any perceived...
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...July 19, 2012 Abstract With employees spending more time together in the workplace, consensual relationships are becoming more common in the workplace. This workplace romance has caused major concerns for companies and their human resource professionals. This ongoing behavior has existed many decades and is becoming more prevalent in the workplace. According to a survey by Vault.com,47 percent of 1000 professionals survey had been involved in an office romance, and another 19 percent would consider it (Hellriegel, Slocum 2009) Michelle and Barack Obama, Bill and Melinda Gates, Olivia Chow and the late Jack Layton are a few of the many employees who met in the work place and later married. The workplace continues to be the foundation of which many healthy relationships are established, yet those relationships gone badly have resulted in consequence for the employee as well the employer, whereas costly and timely claims of sexual harassment cost employers millions of dollars. Scandals such as Charles Thomas/Anita Hill, Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinski, and Joe Patrino/Jessica Dorrell just to name a few have tainted the ethic culture of the workplace. In an effort to reduce romance in the workplace, an increasing numbers of employers are instituting consensual relationship agreements in company policies addressing workplace romance, in an attempt to avoid such scandals. Workplace romances can lead to accusations of poor judgment, breaches of ethics, favoritism, lost productivity...
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...relationships originate in the workplace? Today’s workers spend more time at work with their colleagues than they do at home with their families, friends, and significant others; the demand for meeting deadlines and handling last minute demands from clients and supervisors often come before personal activities. This growing circumstance calls for some type of system or agreement in place to account for the number of workplace romances that occur. A Consensual Relationship Agreement (CRA) can be described as a written “contract” in which the romantically involved parties acknowledge particular aspects of their relationship and ultimately state that the said relationship is both voluntary and consensual (Hellriegel/Slocum, 2011). Most jobs contain the typical window of a workday that exists from 8 AM to 5 PM five days a week; however, some jobs require their employees to come in earlier, stay later, travel, and immerse themselves in various work-related activities that will best improve the status and success of the company. With that said, these types of instances provide several opportunities for coworkers to work alongside each other for the good of the company for extended periods, as well as get to know one another with all the time spent together during work. Wilson, Filosa, and Fennel’s Privacy Project paper (2003) stated the following: “A 1998 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management predicted that 55 percent of office romances would likely result in marriage...
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...spouses or relatives from working at the same company or more typically prevent employees from supervising or directing coworkers related to them by blood or marriage. Consensual Relationship Agreements Case Study Question 1 Argue for the use of Consensual Relationship Agreements (CRAs) in your current (or future) workplace. Answer Stephanie Losee and Helaine Olen, authors of "Office Mate: The ..[->5] so Dating and romance in the workplace is an interesting topic that will cause quite a discussion among many professionals and their coworkers. In the book titled Office Mate: The Employee Handbook for Finding and Managing Romance on the Job, 38% of employees ages twenty- five to twenty-nine have had an office romance (Losee & Olen, 2007, p. 55). Now, many individuals view office romances as an unavoidable trend as a result of people working together that share the same common interests (Losee & Olen, 2007). However, many people wonder what can be done to decrease the problematic situations that can arise when office romances occur in the workplace. A Consensual Relationship Agreement is a written contract that helps to address the issues created by office romances (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011). This agreement acknowledges that such relationships will develop and ask that the parties inform their immediate supervisor of any romantic relationship (Merrill & Knox,...
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