Love is in the air and at the workplace, which can be a tricky situation for employers to manage.
A Monster.ca poll finds 30% of Canadians don’t believe workplace relationships should be governed by formal policies.
But workplace romances are notoriously tricky to manage and can lead to some potentially awkward situations that can hurt productivity and morale.
Read: How to maintain a workplace free of sexual harassment
Here are four tips from Monster.ca on how to handle workplace romance.
Set policy: Having a clear policy on how your business regards dating between colleagues is Rule 101. Having clearly defined boundaries ensures everybody knows what is appropriate and what is not. Think about what is best for business, taking employee morale into account.
Communicate effectively: Having everybody on the same page is the easiest way to ensure compliance, so how you communicate policies is just as important as the policies themselves.
Read: OHRC issues statement on workplace sexual harassment
Encourage openness: Policies are typically black and white, but the human heart certainly isn’t, so an open-door approach is best, encouraging employees to talk candidly with HR about workplace relationships that might impact day-to-day work.
Discourage unprofessional behaviour: Even if you have a policy that allows workplace relationships in certain circumstances, be clear from the start that, while at work, everybody must remain professional. Inappropriate office behaviour, such as public displays of affection, should be prohibited.
Want other related articles? Click here for more stories about HR.
Also read: