Imagine trying to outlaw love. Or sex. Some organisations try to and you can just guess how successful that is, writes Fiona Smith in the Australian Financial Review. She asked Mark Dean, Managing Director of En Masse, for a human rights perspective on office romances.
Extract from Australian Financial Review, 17 August 2010:
… Lawyer and managing director of human rights training company En Masse Mark Dean warns that secrecy is dangerous when it comes to workplace relationships.
A breach of trust can arise if people are unaware that their colleagues have a romantic relationship. How would you feel if you confided something to a colleague about your difficulties dealing with your boss only to find out the two were dating?
Dean recommends that people reveal their relationship as soon as possible, so that the organisation can deal with any perceptions of conflict of interest and so the news doesn’t leak out through gossip and innuendo.
Dean recommends that, if people think there may be a conflict, or if there is a power imbalance within the couple, they should inform human resources as soon as possible.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has a policy on personal relationships in the workplace that starts: “While the foundation does not wish to intrude into the private lives of employees, we recognise the increased potential for conflicts of interest, appearance of favouritism and risk of claims of sexual harassment when employees develop close personal relationships with each other.”
The policy advises people who have a relationship with someone, where there is also a supervisory role, to disclose it promptly to the general or ethics and employment counsel, or to human resources.
“Err on the side of disclosure as openness helps to avoid future misunderstandings. The foundation will work with the employees involved to determine whether it is appropriate and possible to adjust reporting or working relationships or whether other changes or actions are necessary.”
Dean says that when problems do arise around an inter-office relationship, non-disclosure is usually the culprit …
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