Workplace Romance

Name

Institution

Workplace romance refers to welcoming of sexual interest by two people who belong to a particular organization (Parks, 2006). Romance in the workplace should not be encouraged in the workplace due to the various adverse effects it has on the various parties. These parties include the participants themselves where one of them in cases where the romance ends may develop low self-esteem and image. Additionally, when one of the parties may want to continue with the relationship, this may change to sexual harassment. At the onset of the romance, the participants may tend to less productive and unmotivated due to the involvement they have with each other.

Moreover, romance in the workplace where one of the parties involved is married could end in divorce, which will affect their family (Shellenbarger, 2003). Furthermore, the co-workers who may not approve of the romance may ostracize the parties involved and may lead to the coworkers to leave the organization. The participants may not be entirely productive within the organization, due to their romantic involvement with each other. This may adversely affect the organization’s production and profitability.

Besides, the organization should establish policies regarding romance in the workplace, since the romance can in some circumstances lead to sexual harassment. The policies which an organization should come up with should limit any romantic relationship between a junior staff and their supervisor (Powell, 2001). Additionally, there should be restrictions on the organization’s policy on the displays of affection in public, since these displays often show behaviours which are not professional. These policies will limit the possibility of retaliation among the parties involved in cases where the romance ends.

Furthermore, in cases where the two parties involved in the romance violate the laid down policy, then actions should be taken against them. Some of the actions involve transferring them to different departments, reprimanding them or terminating them from the workplace.

References

Parks, M. (2006). Workplace Romance: Poll Findings: Society for Human Resource Management. Wall Street Journal.

Powell, G. N. (2001). Workplace romances between senior-level executives and lower-level employees: An issue of work disruption and gender. Human Relations, 54(11), 1519-1544.

Shellenbarger, S. (2003). Co-Workers Can Wreck a Marriage: At the Office, Divorce Is Contagious. The Wall Street Journal, 1-1.

This entry was posted on February 26, 2018 at 8:52 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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