Informative

4 Steps To Maintain Consensual Workspace Relationships

Consensual Workspace Relationships as defined by Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. is a relationship between two consenting adults within the workspace community. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King met at the university. Together, they started to fight for civil rights in the USA. Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre met during their college days. Sartre became the father of Existentialism, and the couple inspired the second-wave feminist movement in 1960. Marie and Pierre Curie married and invented uranium, experimenting side by side. Working together, these couples have changed the course of the world. 

People often say that you should never mix work with pleasure. Workplace relationships have been seen as taboo for decades. But as workplaces are changing, so do the relationship dynamics between employees. Contrary to popular belief, mixing work with pleasure could result in great consequences if dealt with caution. The decision is in your hands whether to take on the workplace relationship. In this blog, let’s talk about consensual workplace relationships and how to deal with them.  

What are Consensual Workspace Relationships?

A consensual workplace relationship refers to any workplace relationship, either past or present, which is romantic, physically intimate, or sexual, to which the parties consent or consented. This includes marriage. Usually, employees are prohibited or at least discouraged from such relationships. But, if they disclose these with the company HR, it’s not considered a violation of the workplace policies.

Usually, office romance is considered a bad idea because, if it blows up, it pollutes the working environment. It leads to employees avoiding each other, resulting in difficulties in getting things done. But the truth is, increasing working hours results in people spending more and more hours together in the workplace. Spending so much time in close proximity yields an opportunity to get to know each other in intimate ways, resulting in a romantic bond between the employees.

Do’s and don’ts of Consensual Workspace Relationships

Keep it outside your department.

 If possible, avoid seeking relationships in your team, even though there is no hard rule about dating your subordinate or boss. If you are a boss expecting a relationship with your subordinate, they may feel obligated to comply with your advances. Perhaps they will respectfully decline your proposal. Next time you give some constructive criticism about their work performance, they might put it on your advances. The same goes for seeking a relationship with the boss. Suppose you are in a consensual workplace relationship with your boss. In that case, other teammates might judge your performance appraisal through the glasses of your relationship.

Keeping it professional.

 Consensual workplace relationships do not mean a licence to PDA or public display of affection. Your office is a place of work and not a place for romance. Flirting, kissing, and hooking up at work are strictly prohibited with employees in a relationship and those who are married. Even when proposing at the workplace should be avoided at any cost. If you like someone, it’s better to take the proposal somewhere else.

Check the policies. 

 When your job is on the line, it’s better to ask first and act later. Being ignorant of the rule won’t give you an excuse to face the consequences. It’sIt’s not an ideal scenario to start a romantic relationship with the couple reading the employee manual. But it’s necessary to have knowledge of the company’s HR policies. Many companies strictly prohibit employees from engaging in relationships. Many allow it by signing a disclosure document. So, whenever you are engaging in a consensual workplace relationship, it’s imperative to check the employee policies.

Making it official. 

 No one wants to be the centre of office gossip. The last thing you want is to make your relationship public. But, inevitably, someone in the office, HR, coworker, or boss will know about your office relationship. If you have disclosed it to HR, you don’t have to worry about anything. Understand that you are not doing anything wrong, and it’s well within your right to have a relationship with whomever you want. Your HR and your manager help you ensure workplace ethics, a code of conduct, and employee policies.

How to uplift and empower Consensual Workspace Relationships?

You can’t really control who you love, and people get involved in the workplace. It’s inevitable. This relationship often flourishes into happiness and brings out the best in employees. In between chores, social events, and a job, it becomes challenging to find a suitable partner, going out of the daily routine. If employees find them at the workplace, they spend many hours of the day together, flourishing their relationship. It can make working together more fun and exciting as well.

One more benefit of a Consensual Workspace Relationship is that an employee doesn’t feel pressured to reach home on time as both partners usually come and leave the office together most of the time. Even if you do not spend each and every second of your eight working hours with your partner, being in the vicinity of your partner just brightens your day. Just grabbing a quick coffee before the meeting or having lunch together can do miracles for your relationship. Even if something goes wrong at work, your partner will understand it better and cope with your bad mood.    

We hope this blog helped you to understand how to deal with Consensual Workspace Relationships. 

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