With the inescapable
speed of life where every second is mapped to
its most minuscule detail, the prospect of dating
at the work place is seeping into more and more
enterprises. People are displaying lesser interest
and keenness for conventional mode of match making,
such as bars, churches and other social gatherings.
Instead, it has become a general consensus that
meeting coworkers in the department right next
to yours is more commonly preferred. It's beneficial
if one knows what the relationship is going through
on a regular note instead of struggling desperately
to be on the same page with people coming from
a totally separate backdrop. This transition from
pathologies mainly being the lack of time, to
a range of possibilities of budding romance at
the workplace is no longer a bolt from the blue.
Russell Eisenman writes in The Women's Freedom
Network Newsletter January/February, 2001, Vol.
8, Number 1. The Advantages of Workplace and Campus
Dating that “For one thing, when we
date people where we work or go to school, we
are dating people we can get to know in a natural
setting, over a period of time. We can make intelligent
choices, as opposed to meeting someone in a bar,
being fixed up on a blind date by a friend, etc.
Second, we have common interests. Common interests
are very important. Social psychologist Donn Byrne
has shown that attraction-not romantic attraction,
but just being attracted to another-is often based
on attitude similarity between the two. You are
likely to hold at least somewhat similar attitudes
if you have the same occupation, or work in the
same setting, even if in different occupations”
(Eisman, 2001).
To boot such relationships can profit the organization, too, because employees self incurred romantic energy flows through the very grain of the daily work responsibilities when the employees actually eagerly wait for another day to come when they will go to work and meet each other. Such enthusiasm also brings more zeal and dynamism to their work ( Gray, 2000) .
In a survey of over 390 manager and executives in 2003 by the American Management Association, 30 percent said they had dated a co-worker, and two-thirds said they approved of employees' dating in the workplace. Of those 67 percent, 96 percent said it was okay to date co-workers, and 24 percent said it was okay for employees to date their bosses. The organizations fund a launch pad for such instances of liasions because it offers its employees an environment that consists of a puddle of people who are on the same wavelength and spend most of the day together, sharing similar experiences and common denominators of life and living. Coffee breaks or mutual lunches with coworkers are ways of getting acquainted with people bearing little or no consequences an d without stooping too low ethically or putting yourself on the advertise. As unprecedented the office interactions may seem to be, there is always a small chance of getting hitched and harboring a more momentous relationship. Workplace romances generally have nurture greater possibilities for a sustained relationship especially when hopes are high. As per the American Management Association survey, of the 30 percent who had dated colleagues, more than half of those said their relationship led to marriage or a long-term relationship (Kersten, 2000) .
Even though the workplace may have
no firm or definite policy against office interactions
or dating, it is always more logical to keep a
relationship concealed. That is so because news
such as these, especially in a closed environment
spreads like fire and catches the interest of
all. Often this leads to unwelcome reactions from
the spectators and eventually the office environment
gets hostile. This may cause the employee having
the relationship leave the office due to disharmony
and disrespect . “An office romance
is one of those things that complicate relationships
not only with the person you’re dating,
but also with your co-workers. Don’t tell
people you are dating. There is always the chance
you can break up, and you don’t want to
go through the aftermath that will bring, if everyone
is watching and talking about it and taking sides”
(Love in the Office, 2004). According to the survey
conducted by the American Management Association,
70 percent of those who had dated a co-worker
said their other colleagues were well aware about
the dating, but only 11 percent of those said
their co-workers' knowledge had a negative effect
on their repute in the office. Of those 70 percent,
85 percent said their colleague’s knowledge
had minimum effect on their reputations ( Nation's
Business, 1998) .
Besides making the standing in the office be at stake, office relationships can lead to general apathy when one’s actions and reactions fall out of line of the work tasks and office environment, thus making it complicated for the employers. At the fringes, many companies have policies about employee dating, according to the American Management Association survey, but only 11 percent of respondents reported that their organization barred employee dating. More than 90 percent say their companies only forbid relationships between subordinates and superiors. Dayton-based NCR Corp., for example, has a rule of conduct making a cut back on relationships between superior and lower-level employees, according to spokesman John Hourigan. "The company strongly discourages dating or becoming involved in a relationship with another person at work at all," Hourigan said. "But if there's any action to be taken, it's on a case-by-case basis. We don't seek to insert the company into personal relationships of our employees, but we know complications can sometimes arise when employees date one another."
As long as workplace-dating policies are applicable equally to either sex, they don't violate any constitutional rights. But the authorization of workplace dating still incurs at least some risks and may lead to subsequent self-destruction of the office policies and lay snags in the fulfillment of job responsibilities. Under prevalent circumstances, employers look down upon company lovebirds with a green-eyed perspective and r esent the lost work hours and blow causing breakups. They definitely see obstructions in placing the criterion for office guiding principles.
Besides having a policy discouraging dating in the workplace there are also legal grounds for termination. Desperate measures may be taken when circumstances in the office are unavoidable and it becomes incumbent upon the officers to make immediate Reponses. Such circumstances may include accusations of sexually harassing a co-worker paving way for sexual harassment lawsuits. While Some employers may become so fearful about such accusations that they also begin to get in the way of the personal lives of dating employees, others become so mistrustful about being accused of sexual harassment that they leave their jobs (Wagner, 1992) . Current court rulings regarding sexual harassment have confused the employers and employees both about the semantic spectrum of the word sexual harassment. As a result of which employers have become paranoid about the ideology of employee dating, this made employees feeling suspicious that an employee dating relationship will put them through the middle of a sexual harassment investigation and other legal headaches. |