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, with a quarter of the British workforce having met through work.  Both personal and professional lives can sometimes overlap, and the boundaries become blurred with the potential to have an impact at work.

It’s not all bad, workplace relationships can often have 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 in to the fall out. 

There was a lot of media coverage after the Philip Schofield story hit the news last year.  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.

Spectra HR’s opinion

In our opinion, trying to put a total ban on relationships is a step to far and almost impossible to police.  

Similarly, introducing what is known as a ‘love contract’ would also be unwise. Commonly used in the US, these types of contracts formally declare that a relationship is consensual and therefore aim to protect the employer if one of the parties later lodges a sexual harassment claim. However, this approach isn’t recommended in the UK as it could breach human rights.

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.

Employers could require employees to disclose a relationship, particularly if it involves a manager and their direct report. 

Our advice is to review your Employee Handbook and ensure you have all the relevant policies in place, including a code of conduct, grievance procedure and rules on harassment. Make sure you communicate any updates to all employees and ensure that managers have had the right training and are equipped to deal with matters such as harassment claims.