Employment trends expert Rob Wilson weighs in on the rise of office romances
Earlier this year CNN President Jeff Zucker was forced to resign from his position due to a consensual relationship he had with a junior employee. Zucker and his employee didn’t disclose their relationship, which apparently continued on for many years, until the long-kept secret finally came to light.
“Zucker’s shocking secret couldn’t have been revealed at a more opportune time. With millions of employees returning to in-office work in 2022, it is time to reconsider office romance,” says Rob Wilson, President of Employco USA and employment trends expert. “After the last 2 years on Zoom or on rotating schedules, this year will probably be the first time that many Americans are fully back in the office with all of their coworkers.”
And after so much time behind a Zoom screen and isolated from in-person human contact, office romances could be on the rise.
“A new survey has shown that office romances increased from 2021 to 2022,” says Wilson. “That means that even during the middle of the pandemic, people were still connecting with coworkers in personal and intimate ways. And since nearly half of survey respondents admitted that they have dated a coworker, the possibility of office romances is something that managers and employers need to address and clarify for their staff.
Developing feelings for your coworkers is much more common than employers may like to admit, but in the #MeToo era, it’s doubly important for companies to make sure that they are doing everything they can to keep their workplaces safe.”
Wilson says the problems worsen when offices don’t have clear-cut dating policies and fraternization regulations.
“It’s important to make sure every employee knows how dating in the workplace must work, including when they need to disclose their relationship to superiors,” says Wilson. “It may feel like an invasion of privacy, but this is how companies are able to protect their own interests and ensure that there is no favoritism or inappropriate conduct in the office.”
Wilson goes on to explain that in most workplaces, it is a good idea for there to be a written policy that supervisors are not able to have romantic relationships with people who are directly under them, in order to ensure that no one is treated unfairly.
“This survey should hopefully provide a wakeup call to companies which have not updated their employee handbooks in a while, or to companies who do not have any policies about dating,” says Wilson. “In particular, industries which are often rife with romantic relationships such as the human resources industry and hospitality industry should make sure that they aren’t being lax or turning a blind eye to possible coworker liaisons.”
The employment trends expert concludes by saying, “While every employee has the right to privacy, that right does not supersede the company’s legal responsibility to make sure that their workplace is fair, equitable, and safe.”
For more on this topic, please contact Rob Wilson at rwilson@thewilsoncompanies.com.