ALT-3 How to Handle your Office Romance
Emotional attachments can form quickly in any relationship. This often adds unnecessary complications between the two individuals. An office romance, however, has an even greater risk of emotional attachments. Workplace gossips will seize on the chance to gain a two-for-one opportunity to discuss the lives of two employees at once rather than just the one.
Some offices place restrictions on relationships between employees. Before embarking on an office romance, it would be advisable to carefully read over employment contracts and review the company policy to see if there are any rules or guidelines mentioned in relation to employees entering into relationships with each other. Even if nothing is specifically outlined in the contracts or the company policy, it may still be wise to have a quiet, confidential word with someone from human resources to get the official word of approval from a company representative.
Dignity must be maintained during an office romance. There should be no public displays of affection while on company time, no secret meetings in an unused conference room and no other stolen moments shared between two lovers. Keep the romance for your personal lives. In fact, any romantic gestures during work time can be misconstrued by other colleagues as favouritism and this can have a severely damaging effect on your professional reputation - something that will be harder to shake off even if the relationship comes to an end.
Many office romances don't last the distance; some individuals can even rack up multiple office romances within the same company. In these cases, the quieter you are about your relationships, the less likely you are to incur a poor reputation. Often, it will be easier if you do not socialise with each other at work - to other employees even subtle gestures can indicate something more is going on than meets the eye. The less you are in the presence of each other, the less likely you will be to get overly familiar with each other and forget that while in work you need to keep the sensitive moments and private in-jokes locked away so no one else can overhear.
By following company guidelines and keeping yourself out of the firing line of the workplace gossips, you'll keep yourself in the clear when it comes to handling your office romance. The early stages of a relationship are often the most delicate and are best if it is not held up under the scrutiny of the entire workplace. Handling an office romance maturely will set you up for when you decide to go public with the news, preferably several months down the line when you are both in the mindset that there is a long-term future for the survival of the relationship.
