Cupid Loose in the Workplace

In Valentine's Day-related news, have to say that I was somewhat surprised to see the number of employers who still have not bothered to put into place some workplace dating policies.  Lisa Takeuchi Cullen at Time's Work in Progress blog cites outplacement firm  Challenger, Gray & Christmas for the proposition that 1/3 of all employers have no such policies.

CEO of CGC John Challenger seems to have it pegged when he writes:

[M]ost companies would benefit by spelling out the rules of workplace romance. It would be foolhardy to completely outlaw all romantic associations between co-workers, but companies can prohibit such relationships between supervisors and their subordinates.

As good of advice as that seems, only 45% of companies prohibit supervisor-subordinate romantic relationships and not surprisingly, it is many of today's relationships of this type that turn into tomorrow's sexual harassment complaint. 

Lisa's advice: "Here's the workplace romance policy I'd advocate: don't ask, don't tell, and for the love of Pete don't practice PDA among your colleagues."

Amen to that.

PS