With the news this week of Nestle boss Laurent Freixe being dismissed as CEO of Nestle due to having an affair with a junior employee, the fraught issue of relationships between colleagues has hit the headlines again. This is yet another case following on from similar incidents at BP, McDonalds and many others. But what as an employer can you realistically do to manage relationships at work and is it an issue anyway?
The biggest issues arising from personal relationships amongst staff are normally considered to be;
- The risk of favouritism – for example, the promotion of one party, granting them a pay rise or bonus or other more preferential treatment of them. It is reported that Mr Freixe did in fact promote the employee he is accused of having an affair with, raising questions as to whether she truly earned that promotion, or only received it due to her relationship with him.
- Perception – even if there is no favouritism, there is the risk that those in the relationship are perceived as having received a promotion, pay rise, bonus or opportunity solely due to the relationship. This can be just as toxic to the business as actual favouritism as colleagues consider that he or she ‘only got that due to his/her sleeping with the boss’ with the rumour-mill going into overdrive.
- The fallout if the relationship ends and the toxicity this can bring into the business culture.
However, the simply reality is that people do meet at work and it is one of the most common places to meet for couples who subsequently go on to marry. How then can employers handle this tricky area?
Some employers take a zero-tolerance approach to relationships at work and simply prohibit them. If employees find themselves in a relationship the employer’s policy will be that one, or both, will need to leave. This can in some ways make life simpler as there is no ambiguity. However it can have the negative effect of compelling colleagues to keep things a secret, increasing the risk of favouritism taking place with no oversight.
Some employers take the opposite approach and pay no attention to it other than in cases of line management responsibilities (for example a manager becoming involved with a direct subordinate).
More and more often however we are seeing employers introduce a relationships at work policy, which specifically permits relationships at work, but requires all employees to disclose the existence of the relationship to HR/senior management. Steps can then be taken to manage the risks set out above, for example by changing line management responsibilities or having the more senior of the couple excuse themselves from any decisions around their partner’s pay, promotion etc.
This requirement for transparency can go a huge way in helping to avoid many of the biggest risks to employers and the huge damage to trust that secret relationships can have.
If you have any queries relating to anything in this article please do contact Nockolds’ Employment Team on us on 0345 646 0406 or complete an online enquiry form, and a member of the team will be in touch.