In the fast-moving world, when professionals often spend more time at the workplace than at home, office romances are not improbable at all. | |
| Or as some may say, even inevitable. So does that mean in a corporate set-up, the mantra should simply be: All work and no play, else the bosses might sack you? |
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| "Nothing of that sort," says Pratyush Ghosh, who works in a call centre firm, "The basic rule here is: Do what you want, but don't get caught. His advice: "If you are a bit too friendly with a female colleague for your superior's comfort, don't send emails on the internal system, send SMSs instead!" |
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| However, Shalini Bhattacharya, a bank employee, warns, "If you are getting into an office romance, be prepared to face the consequence. Else, don't fall for a person who's working with you or for you- that's our policy." |
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| As managers familiar with multinational environments point out, office bonding is a part of every corporate set-up, whether it's in the US or in India. Several information rechnology sector companies encourage such ties because they feel they help to keep the pool of employees together and happy. |
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| The recently published US-based career information portal Vault's 2005 Office Romance Survey has found that more than half of the respondents have dated a co-worker, while about half of them have kept this a secret at their workplace. |
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| In Kolkata too, office flings appear to be best kept secrets. |
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| A section of companies here have adopted a strict policy vis-à-vis office romance. Interestingly, many companies do not have laid-down rules that speak against office romances. |
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| The director of an advertising agency told Business Standard, "Office flings are not necessarily steady relationships. It's more about compatibility. I particularly rely on two of my junior colleagues, who, their colleagues said, were having a relationship. I spoke to the lady who admitted that they were having an affair and I was free to do whatever I wanted to after hearing this. As long as they do their job well, I don't mind. I offered them only one advice: 'Try best to keep your relationship a secret'. After that, they were performing better!" |
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| Also, it seems that the companies which have adopted a strict policy towards office romance are actually unsure of the right way to handle such matter. |
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| "There are people whom you are comfortable with, and there are people with whom you are extremely comfortable while working in office. We can't do anything about it unless we see them doing something that is too close for comfort in office," said an HR executive. |
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| Most young corporates spoken to were of the firm opinion that the company has no business in interfering in one's personal life. Twenty-six-year-old Sushma Bherunani, working in an MNC, said, "As long as the work is not affected, I believe nobody has a right to say anything." |
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| Again not all work-place romances are smooth sailing. Radhika Shaw, who was earlier employed with a PR firm, confessed, "I was quite open about my relationship with a colleague, yet there were times I had to face some barbs and taunts from some colleagues. At the same time, there were others who were quite cool about it. It all depends on the firm's culture, I guess." Young employees confessed that in today's competitive environment, the bottom-line was profit. So naturally, companies were keen to see that a certain decorum was maintained. "Anything outside the boundaries of decency cannot be accepted," confirms the team-leader of a reputed MNC. |
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| His advice: "When you are in this, be sure that your colleague is trustworthy and has the same feelings towards you. Don't worry about your boss; if you are good workers then your seniors are unlikely to care about it. And of course, don't discuss about it among your colleagues. Gossip mongers are the greatest dangers to you, your relationship and your career." |
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| So discretion and decorum appear to be the key words in the relationship with colleagues unless workers want to attract the wrath of the office moral police. |
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| Recently in the US, Boeing CEO Harry Stonecipher was sacked after his affair with a junior was revealed. |
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| The culprit? |
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| Intimate emails sent on the company's internal system that were soon found out. |
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| The case has set a whole new debate about corporate morality. |
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| Does a company have the right to dictate terms of an employee's private life? |
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| In case of office romances, how much is too much? |
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| Besides, who's to decide what's "inappropriate behaviour" in the workplace and what's not? |
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