33% of U.S. employees report having been involved in a workplace romance, as per a recent U.S. workforce survey. Workplace relationships have been on the rise since the Covid-19 pandemic. It is human nature to feel attracted to someone even if they happen to be colleagues.
However, workplace relationships can result in serious consequences. It is therefore vital to implement various policies to ensure employee safety, privacy, and rights.
Workplace Policies
Let’s explore different policies that a business must adopt to sustain a conducive and safe culture for all:
1. Nepotism Policy
The term nepotism means using one’s power to influence placement decisions in favor of friends and family.
Here’s what a nepotism policy does:
- Forbids relatives to work in the same company, department, or a similar chain of command
- Puts an end to favoritism and unfair use of authority to affect hiring decisions
- Controls unjust cover-ups for underperforming employees by the powerful relative
2. Fraternization Policy
Fraternization policy prohibits romantic relations and involvement between a manager and a subordinate.
Few benefits of the fraternization policy:
- Defines the acceptable social behaviors among different employee levels
- Differentiates between romantic and friendship bounds
- Minimizes the safety and security risks of the workforce
3. Anti-harassment Policy
Safe workplaces have zero tolerance for harassment. A sound anti-harassment workplace guarantees:
- Employee trust in the company leadership
- Safety and inclusion of the entire workforce
- Low employee turnover and improves employee retention
Role of HR Consultants in Policy Making
Formulating workplace policies for company leaders can be a difficult job. Especially in absence of an HR subject matter expert.
Business owners should consult Human Resource consultants and professionals when devising workplace policies. HR professionals will help navigate policy making process as per best industry practices.
There are several ways HR Consultants can help customize and tailor policy documents as per your unique business needs:
- Relatives are bound to work together in a family-run business. In such an event, HR professionals will alter policies like nepotism or fraternization to address reporting relationships of close relatives.
- Devise a Conflict-of-Interest policy that bounds employees disclose close relatives working in a similar organization with a large workforce
- Describe consequences and penalties in case of policy breach
Final Thoughts
It is the employer’s responsibility to ensure employee privacy and safety. Although workplace relationships are not an uncommon occurrence but can result in unexpected and unpleasant events if gone wrong. Business owners must put in place relevant policies and rules to prevent any harmful consequences.
Nepotism, fraternization, and harassment are a few practices that hurt company culture. It is important to seek the expertise of HR professionals to draft relevant, strong, and detailed policies to address unique business needs.
The role of policies is to safeguard employee rights and protect their concerns. The absence of workplace rules let’s workforce involved in unfair means of working. It eventually hurts the company image, decreases engagement, lack of employee trust, and high turnover.
