Workplace now a these days is an extension of people's lives as they spend upto one-third to half or more of their day there. Organizations pay their employees for finishing jobs assigned to them whether through a proactive or reactive approach. The highly competitive atmosphere that professionals work in today sometimes acts as a pressure cooker for some, in such a scenario it is but natural or rather easy to expect support, thereafter sympathy and ultimately nearness from one's colleagues. People tend to come near to gain solace in case of failure, or celebrate in case of success.
Now the above mentioned cases may result in positive outcomes and the individual may evolve out much stronger than before and thus, more prepared next time and more suited to company's needs.Organizations use a pedal and brake model to control one's behaviour and performance, pedal such as perks, pat on the back and brake such as fines, notices etc. In fact, to enhance the integration and facilitate communication in the firm the management may actually support this type of interaction. Now as long as this is limited to a healthy and mutually beneficial level of interaction it is fine, problem arises when the boundary is crossed and unsaid and unwritten rules are broken. Though we hear people putting in 16 hours of work at a stretch, I would like to question how much of it was useful or productive work, how much of it was dedicated to coffee breaks, how much to chit-chat over the water cooler, how much over the latest price rise in cost of potatoes and which actress had a break-up with which actor(my favorite heard it quite many times in one of the bank branches where I have my account).
This is where Love Contract comes to the rescue as my friends Varun Agarwal and Sushma Rao have already pointed out, it either prohibits people from getting into relationship or draws a line till where it can go, they have already given examples as how performance can be affected in case one has a break-up, heart break etc.. Now history is replete with examples of office romances which ultimately turned disastrous effect for the firm not because of performance issues but rather due to the responsibility held by the person, the first example coming to my mind is that of erstwhile US President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, where the latter alleged 9 sexual encounters with the former, now here we have one of the biggest firms on Earth the government of the most powerful nation on Earth, it further led to impeachment of the President but we all can imagine the embarrassment and humiliation that the people of the country would have faced. A firm after all from generating profits for its shareholders also has to maintain a moral image in the society, the Lewinskygate affair will now be a black mark in American history. I am sure, had he been asked to sign a restrictive Love contract Mr. Bill Clinton would have at least thought once before indulging in such scandalous behaviour. The other most recent such scandal was of Mr Tiger Woods indulging in extra marital affairs, which led to cancellation of his contract with several of his sponsors and had him apologise in public. Thus, a contract becomes all the more important to save those associated with the accused from public shame, which is all the more at stake if you are a public figure of a high stature.
Thus, we need this contract not only to regulate the work related performance, but also to uphold the image and reputation of the firm. In fact clauses do state that an employee can't indulge in activities which do harm to a firm's reputation.(e.g. American Express Case Exhibit 2) so Love contract can just be an extension to this clause.
Fear is after-all one of the most important and effective factors apart from encouragement to regulate one's behaviour and especially for masses.
I doubt if firms are really interested in their employees' personal lives (unless Pritam Singh and GM HR both liked the same lady Jagruti). They want to take care, but only if you keep giving them assured returns.
Thus, we can say that the importance, validity and relevance of such a contract increases as one grows up in the hierarchy. These may come across as one in a thousand cases, but I would like to point out that these gained attention only because the accused was a reputed person, there may be thousands such case where the an officer would have got away with a similar act, just because no rule was there to restrict him/her(Courtesy Hindi Movie Aitraaz). Especially in today's atmosphere where favouritism and explotitation can wreak havoc with employees' careers and leave them in a mess. Some deterrent in better than no deterrent, as they say "Prevention is better than cure", then why not issue a warning. Otherwise, Agar Miyan Biwi Raazi to Kya Karega Kaazi???? Ultimately, I am all for Love Contracts.
1 comment:
My friend Soumyo has made an important point that the competitive atmosphere under which professionals work these days makes them expect 'nearness' from colleagues. Teams working together take the possibility of 'nearness' a level ahead. If you put individuals with common interests together for 40-plus hours per week, office romance is bound to happen, experts say. A recent survey revealed that approximately 40 percent of U.S. workers have dated a fellow employee, and that another 40 percent would consider doing so ('40' seems to be the figure of love).
I think we are deviating from the topic a bit when we talk about Tiger Woods which I feel cannot be classified under office romance. What Tiger Woods does in his personal life when the parties involved are in no way related to the work he does, is completely under his discretion and should not be bound by contracts. If Tiger Woods can still be the best golfer in the world, it shows that his work is not affected.
As stated by Sushma, there is not one problem that stems out of these relationships cropping up in the workplace. And the situation is the worst when the people involved are in a reporting relationship. Differential treatment is one of the most common problems. In a recent California case, a Corrections Supervisor was into a physical relationship with three of his subordinates. They were all being given preferential treatment in the form of promotions, lack of supervision and lax job duties. The women who were not involved with the Supervisor soon came to believe that the only way to climb the corporate ladder was to have a sexual relationship with him, so they sued claiming sexual harassment. Another major problem which companies face is dealing with sexual harassment cases which might be filed if the relationship ends. Loss of concentration, lesser productivity and breach of workplace ethics are other problems not to be missed.
The question is that in cases of office romance, is a Love contract essential? If it is, then is just having a Love contract sufficient? I feel that though a Love contract makes people involved acknowledge that the relationship is consensual, and might save the firm from the issues that a relationship brings along, it is in no way fool proof. The employees might not agree to sign on it if they don't want to make their relationship public especially in a culture like we have. Moreover, the cases that bite the company the most are in which the employees involved refuse to sign the agreement which may happen if one or both of those involved are married. For example, in November 2007, Mark W. Everson was forced to resign as the CEO of the American Red Cross because of his relationship with a female subordinate. Everson was married at the time. It is unlikely that he would have signed a love contract. Also, people might allege that they were forced into signing the contract as could happen if Pritam Singh signs the contract because the GM(HR) is basically giving them no option. So the "Love Contract" is being used by the firm as a tool to blackmail the employee at a critical point in his career.
I feel the solution lies in having a mix of a strong sexual harassment policy of which the employees are made aware of when they join as pointed out by Ashish in case of Infosys, using a "Love contract" by the employees if they enter into a relationship, and an effective reporting and investigation policy. The policies should be enforced consistently if they are to be effective. A "Love contract" should be a means of declaration by the employees involved and should only be signed after a clear discussion about it spelling out the expectations and responsibilities of the people involved in the romance and of the employer. The employees should not be forced into it. There can never be a perfect solution to avoid office romance but managing it well will benefit the organization as well as the employees.
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