The research reveals how open most companies
are to the legal minefield of discrimination, preferential
treatment and the consequences of revenge connected to office
romances.
"It is clear that office workers across the UK
are keen on conducting relationships with each other, so employers
should think carefully about whether or not they should put a
policy in place to give workers guidance," said Ben Doherty, an
employment specialist with Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind
OUT-LAW.COM.
"While not all employers would want to ban
relationships outright, and it's questionable whether they can do
so, it can be useful to make it very clear in a policy what is and
is not appropriate, and how the company will deal with any
breaches," he said.
The survey found that 59% of the 19 to 35 year
olds surveyed had had office romances, while 32% had had encounters
with people from the their own department. In what could be a shock
to businesses that depend on client relationships, 18% of those
surveyed admitted having romantic encounters with clients.
The survey was carried out by NETconsent, a
company which makes software which manages and publishes corporate
policies.
"Organisations have to accept that staff are
going to have relationships, but cannot afford to ignore them if it
is likely to be detrimental to the company," said Dominic Saunders,
operations director of NETconsent. He said that organisations can
mitigate their risks by ensuring that they communicate and enforce
workplace policies to protect themselves from the potentially
dangerous effects of workplace romance.
The dangers were underlined earlier this year
when a solicitor in a small practice dismissed his personal
assistant, a woman much younger than him with whom he had been
having a sexual relationship. He dismissed her when he found that
she had been having an affair with a student.
The personal assistant took a case against the
employer for sex discrimination, which was upheld by an employment
tribunal. The Employment Appeals Tribunal later overturned that
ruling because it found that the grounds for dismissal was not sex
discrimination but jealousy, and that that reason is "inconsistent
with the reason being her sex".
Despite all the romantic activity in UK
offices, workers are not aware of what their company's policy says
about office romances. While 37% of the workers surveyed said they
thought their work did not have a policy on the matter, 51% said
that they did not know whether or not there was a policy.
"The important thing for companies to bear in
mind is that they should be consistent across the whole
organisation in their application of any policy," said Doherty.
"The policy itself should ensure that any workplace relationships
do not impact upon an employee's performance of their duties, and
should put in place a procedure to be followed if the relationship
does affect an employee's performance of their duties."
Doherty said that it is important for
employers to ensure their workplace policies are communicated to
employees. An employer must also be able demonstrate that this has
been done. Sending a policy by email is a good approach, said
Doherty, provided that new starters are also made aware of
policies.
