Office relationships are something a large number of employers are faced with. Research from the Society for Human Resource Management's HR Knowledge Center, revealed that 43 percent of HR professionals reported romances in their workplaces. While all office romances have the potential to cause problems, those that involve a supervisor and one of their subordinates can have the largest ramifications, as it can lead to favouritism.
Margaret Fiester, a manager of the Society for Human Resource Management's HR Knowledge Center, said that while an employer's first inclination might be to forbid all office romances and limit relationships to a strictly professional manner, she added that this probably isn't very realistic. “I think to ban it entirely would be awfully hard to enforce," Fiester said. "You do need to have a clear-cut policy on workplace romance."
The Society for Human Resource Management found that office romance policies are becoming more and more prevalent. The study discovered that in 2013, 42 percent of employers had a written or verbal policy on workplace romances, almost twice the number that had a policy in 2005. In addition, when that relationship comes to an end there are huge possibilities for sexual harassment lawsuits from the subordinate.
Harley Storrings, a labour and employment attorney with Arnstein & Lehr, said assertions of sexual harassment can come up even when a relationship is between two employees that don't report to each other. "Invariably, most relationships will come to an end and there could come a point where one person wants the relationship to continue and the other person doesn't," Storrings said. "Sooner or later, unwanted advances could create a hostile work environment claim, so you need to be very careful there."
In addition to the legal consequences that could arise, Austin said office relationships can have an overall negative impact on the workplace. Employers may find themselves dealing with issues of decreased productivity, or mediating between employees who are no longer working collaboratively with each other."The problem is how does the court construe what you intend to mean, unless you specifically define it," he said. "You have to be careful how you craft these things, and make sure you give a pretty thorough explanation, so you don't go too far."
While many small businesses may think office romance policies aren't necessary, Martin believes they are the ones who can benefit most from it. She said no business is too small not to be worried about liability.
“For (small businesses) a lawsuit can be devastating because of the cost of defending it," Martin said, adding that big companies probably have more insurance or financial resources to fight a sexual harassment claim should it arise. "It is probably even more prudent for small businesses to be concerned and proactive."
Workplace relationships also provide an outlet for unwanted gossip, rumors, and innuendo, which can be both disruptive to the office and can negatively impact the reputation of the company if customers or clients are exposed to it. As well as this, this could lead to employees being singled out by others, which can lead to workplace harassment or bullying charges from them.
With this in mind, it can be clear why there is a much higher potential for employees to seek employment elsewhere when relationships come to an end.