Love is in the air…

Following the Christmas party season and with Valentine’s Day approaching, love may well be in the air in your workplace.  Both personal and professional lives can sometimes overlap, and the boundaries can often become blurred with the potential to have an impact at work.

It’s not all bad, workplace relationships can often have a positive impact, such as enhanced morale and an increase in communication, creativity, and energy. But when the “honeymoon” period is over, break-ups can cause an uncomfortable atmosphere, not only for the former couple, but their colleagues as well can get drawn into the fall out. 

There was a lot of media coverage after the Philip Schofield story hit the news in 2023. Consequently, ITV have now introduced strict rules requiring all employees to declare any relationship or close friendships with a work colleague.  Anyone who fails to disclose a relationship now risks facing disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal!

While some companies might prefer to deter workplace romances altogether, this is almost impossible to enforce.  In our opinion, trying to put a total ban on relationships is a step too far and almost impossible to police.  

In most cases, provided those involved are professional and capable of successfully separating their work and personal life, most relationships between colleagues shouldn’t present problems for the employer. However, in reality, workplace relationships can cause tensions amongst staff and have potential legal repercussions. We see this particularly when a relationship has turned sour and issues arise that provide grounds for Employment Tribunal claims such as sex discrimination, sexual harassment, or victimisation.  A policy outlining the standards of conduct required at work will limit an employer’s vicarious liability for the misconduct of an employee. 

Employers should assess the likely implications of any romantic relationships according to the nature of their business and staffing structure and make the necessary provisions. Whilst there is no legal requirement for employers to adopt a formal office romance policy, it is a sensible approach for most employers to impose rules around personal relationships at work, with the aim of ensuring that individual members of staff are not open to allegations of impropriety, bias, abuse of authority or conflict of interest.  For example, employers could require employees to disclose a relationship, particularly if it involves a director, or a manager and their direct report. 

October 2024 saw the introduction of new legislation regarding sexual harassment in the workplace and whilst Philip Schofield is now old news, the latest names to hit the media are Greg Wallace and Gino D’Acampo, for making inappropriate comments of a sexual nature in the workplace. 

But what about unrequited “love” …….

Unwanted comments or Valentine’s gestures could lead to an extremely uncomfortable situation at work or even legal issues, such as claims of sexual harassment.  Given an employer’s new positive duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, you may wish to remind staff to respect boundaries and not send colleagues unsolicited gifts, cards or invitations to meet outside of work.

We urge employers to review their Employee Handbook and ensure that all the relevant policies are in place, including a code of conduct, grievance procedure and rules on dignity at work and sexual harassment. Make sure you communicate any updates to all employees and ensure that managers are trained and equipped to deal with matters such as harassment claims. We strongly advise that all staff are trained so that they are aware of their own obligations at work (or work-related events such as training) and understand the boundaries around banter, personal comments, gossip, physical contact, gestures and jokes at work. 

If you want to find out more about how to protect your business against claims of sexual harassment, please get in touch