According to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) 2024 Workplace Romance study, 49% of those surveyed admitted to having a crush on a coworker in the past year, 21% went on a date with a coworker and 11% matched with a coworker on a dating app. Finding love at work is certainly not uncommon—indeed, recent Forbes research showed that over 60% of adults have had a workplace romance.
No law prohibits consenting adults from having romantic relationships in the workplace, so many companies handle it differently. However, it is important to remember the individuals in the relationship are not the only ones who feel the impact if the relationship does not work out. Possible outcomes of an office relationship gone wrong are workplace hostility, unwanted distractions or even sexual harassment claims.
“Office romances can create scenarios that could result in sexual harassment, which might result in an employment practices claim,” said Chris Williams, employment practices liability product manager at Travelers. “These scenarios include, but are not limited to, when an employee pursues a romantic relationship with a coworker and the pursuit is unwelcome; when an office romance ends and one of the employees involved does not accept the resolution and continues to pursue a relationship; and when a senior employee is engaged in a romantic relationship with a subordinate, creating a power imbalance.”
Williams recommended creating and encouraging a company culture that does not tolerate sexual harassment. “This includes establishing a written policy on sexual harassment, providing that policy to all employees and following it,” he said. He added that a company could also protect against sexual harassment claims and promote a safe work environment by mandating sexual harassment training for all employees, adding the sexual harassment policy to the employee handbook, and establishing multiple avenues for lodging a complaint that are not limited to an employee's manager.
Organizations should also consider purchasing an employment practices liability insurance (EPLI) policy to help protect against risks in the event of claims resulting from relationships or romantic overtures among employees. Souring relationships could translate into inappropriate workplace dynamics, for example, while inappropriate romantic overtures could translate into sexual harassment. “Many EPL carriers offer sexual harassment training for policyholders and have additional risk management resources available, such as sample policies,” he added.
In addition to a sexual harassment policy and training and adequate employment liability coverage, companies should also consider implementing official policies regarding office romances to prevent future issues.
Crafting Policies About Workplace Relationships
According to Chelsea Mesa, a leader of employment law firm Seyfarth Shaw’s handbooks and policy development team, an organization's policy regarding office romances should address potential conflicts of interest or the dissemination of confidential information, such as someone in human resources dating a fellow employee and sharing information they should not be sharing.
Such conflicts can happen whether a company operates with remote workers or in-office employees, so policies about workplace relationships should include language that applies to both scenarios and should not be more punitive to one over the other. Even with what she calls “the great scatter,” employees in a relationship can have the same conflicts of interest or confidentiality risks as if they worked in the same physical office.
Organizations are increasingly drafting policies around specific workplace culture needs or in response to specific cases. “Generally, unless there has been an issue, [a policy] is not really something that a lot of companies feel very strongly about putting in place,” Mesa said. “Then something will happen, and they want to create something that is a little bit more tailored to who they are as an organization.”
While there is no one-size-fits-all policy that will work for every organization, there should be a few standard guidelines in place, including:
- Prohibitive language considerations: SHRM survey respondents felt their employer should not have a policy prohibiting workplace romances (64%), and Williams noted that banning romantic relationships outright may not be feasible. Mesa explained that is because blanket relationship bans tend to be a little too intrusive on privacy rights and protections about lawful off-duty conduct. However, depending on the types of relationships organizations want to discourage, Williams said there should be specific language prohibiting those relationships, such as relationships between supervisors and subordinates.
- A “love” contract: Signed by both individuals, these documents disclose a relationship to the organization and ask the employees to acknowledge that their relationship is consensual and that they will remain professional. This contract should not be the end-all, be-all regarding office romances and should work in conjunction with a more formal policy. “I would be concerned if a client is relying too heavily on a love contract,” Mesa said. “It certainly can be utilized as evidence that you told [the company] that this relationship was consensual and now you are claiming that it was not, but I would not plan on relying on it.”
- Disclosure requirements: Company policies can also mandate reporting any romantic relationship, regardless of whether the relationship is between two employees at the same level or between a manager and a subordinate. According to Forbes, 62% of those surveyed who have been involved in an office romance reported the relationship to HR. It is unclear whether the disclosures were voluntary, but an organization can require them as part of the company-wide policy.
Even if an organization is unaware of a current office romance or whether there are already issues within its workforce, having a policy is always important. “It is almost as though when the rules or the policies get relaxed, things start to happen again, and employers are reminded why having a policy of this nature is a good practice,” Mesa said.