by Jade Fitzgerald

Created on: February 11, 2010

While dating a co-worker may seem exciting at first, it is nearly always a bad idea. Here’s why:

 - It may be against company policy to date a fellow employee. For the relationship to continue one of you may have to give up a much loved job and move to another company. Or what if you split up? The environment in the workplace would be severely awkward which could also result in one of you having to quit.

- You may start the relationship on equal footing but what would happen if you were given a promotion? You’re now their boss. Your partner may rebel and disobey orders believing the rules don’t apply to them, this could put your position in jeopardy. What would you do then? Could you discipline your partner? Thought not…

- Should your relationship become public knowledge in the workplace you will become the subject of gossip. If you’re dating someone who has a big impact on promotions or raises for example expect comments such as: “He’s sleeping with her, no wonder she got the promotion.” If you want people to focus on your professional abilities and not your personal life then act professional. Dating a co-worker is not professional behaviour.

- Your relationship with a co-worker will not just affect the two of you. It will affect everyone else in the workplace too. Colleagues of the opposite sex will feel they can no longer talk to you in case your partner gets jealous. The two of you may be excluded from meetings or social events as colleagues feel they can’t ask one without the other. Your relationship could affect decisions regarding promotion as the boss may feel it’s not wise to place one half of a couple above the other. Colleagues may feel awkward if in the same room as the two of you and may feel they should give you privacy despite having as much right to be there as you.

- Finally, do you trust your co-worker? Would they back-stab you if an opportunity to go further in the company aroused? Or what if the relationship ended badly? Would they report you to HR for harassment in the hope of getting rid of you? Think about what that would do to your career.

If you truly believe that you’ve found ‘the one’ in a co-worker then by all means go for it. But you might want to consider looking for a new job or at the very least moving to a different department.

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