Given the number of hours an employee spends at work, it is no surprise that many people meet their partners there.
In many cases, personal relationships between staff do not interfere with work. Whilst there are no legal rules governing relationships at work the merge between professional and personal life can present various legal and practical concerns for employers particularly if this adversely impacts other colleagues or the business. Personal relationships can be particularly problematic where they involve members of the same team or are between a manager and a subordinate.
Having a written policy in place, setting the standards for what is and is not acceptable behaviour and the actions to be taken should problems arise will help ensure that situations are handled effectively, consistently and do not discriminate on the grounds of a protected characteristic such as gender or marital status.
A written policy is also useful to line managers in understanding their responsibility in managing personal relationships within their teams. A policy in place could address various issues that may arise as a result of a personal relationship such as:
• lack of transparency in relation to workplace matters;
• risks to the confidentiality of business information;
• legal risks regarding discrimination and harassment;
• potential conflicts of interest of those involved in personal relationships;
• actual or perceived bias regarding recruitment, promotion, rostering, annual leave allocation, appraisals, discipline and grievance and other operational matters where staff in a personal relationship are also in a direct reporting or subordinate relationship;
• potential for a negative effect on general public perception of fairness, objectivity and impartiality;
• embarrassment of other staff;
• fear of favouritism by other colleagues;
• general adverse impact on team dynamics and reduction in team morale;
• outputs may be disrupted in the event of relationship breakdown; and
• impact on HR Department or management resources and increased legal risks in the event of relationship breakdown.
Without this, the mere existence of a workplace relationship will not be a reason to discipline an employee. However, where there is a relationship at work policy in place, which is breached, an employer will have a potentially fair reason to discipline staff.
A simple measure of requiring staff to disclose a workplace relationship so that an employer can take pre-emptive steps to avoid conflicts of interest (for example, by changing reporting lines) stands a better chance of being upheld. However, if you do capture data regarding personal relationships at work, be sure that you have a genuine need to do so and, the purpose of it is to enable you to identify and manage measures that are being put in place to mitigate risk. The data stored will be personal data and must be kept strictly private and confidential with only those who require access to it to administer it and manage risk.
If you need advice and assistance regarding a relationship in the workplace or preparing a policy, please do not hesitate to contact us.