3 best ways to handle office romance
Love, they say, can find one anywhere. So, it is not out of place for employees to get involved in romantic relationships with their colleagues in an office environment.
Office romance can lead to a situationship and in some cases, lead to long-term relationships and even marriage, but they can also result in uncomfortable situations for the people involved as well as their co-workers
Should you find yourself in this shoe, here are great tips on how to handle an office relationship without dropping the balls on your professionalism.
1. It must not affect the quality of your work
One of the golden rules of enjoying office romance is to ensure that it doesn’t affect your functionality at work. It will be a major red flag if your office romance affects the performance of your activities at work, especially when you are dating your boss.
However, it’s best not to date your managers or subordinates, this is because conflicts of interest are most glaring. It’s hard to be objective when giving someone you’re dating a performance review, and you don’t want people to think that you’re being unduly favoured.
It can erode your own confidence and hurt the team’s morale. Both experts acknowledge that boss-employee romances do happen and sometimes those relationships work out.
2. Check the company’s office relationship policies
Before you begin a relationship with your colleague, make sure you look at the company policies about dating co-workers. Many companies, large and small, have hard and fast rules against relationships developing between co-workers.
If it is against the rules, you have to ask yourself if it’s worth it. But if you choose to go ahead, you must make sure you keep it private and avoid public affection in the office or anything that will make them fish you out.
3. Keep it private
Keeping a relationship private in an office is quite good and will make it last longer, according to experts, because it keeps prying eyes and opinions of the outside world.
Meanwhile, if the relationship does get serious, one member should strongly consider a new position outside the company. That way, you can separate your career paths from the relationship.