Is it actually a "Love Contract"???

“Dating and Relationship Agreement”

The first thing that comes to one’s mind on reading this title is, “now my personal life is no more personal”. Now we want to accept it or not but the barrier between personal and professional lives is gradually crumbling. What we do, how our day is spent, the outcome of a meeting in the office subconsciously rules our after-office-hours behavior. Keeping both the professional and personal lives miles apart is the sign of a true manager. But what happens when both personal and professional lives are housed under the same roof. What happens when a professional relationship starts showing strains of attraction, attachment or any other emotion?

When the heart tries to interfere in matters of the mind we can be assured that the perfect recipe of disaster is being concocted.

And this is what is being shown in the story “Love Contract”.

Pritam Singh and Jagruti Patel are not the first employees who are getting into a relation in an office. They are only names to denote similar situations almost everywhere in the world. And the action of GM HR is not just a one-off reaction. His action is just a preventive action for future disaster (if any). Matters of heart are not easily resolved.

Now if we look at the case from the perspective of the three main characters, the GM HR, Pritam Singh and Jagruti Patel, we can explain their behavior to some extent.

GM HR: being the GM HR, it was his first responsibility to keep his employers happy and prevent any situation which might affect the smooth functioning of his productive players. Had he turned a blind eye towards the behavior of both the other characters then there might be many future consequences which he would not like to face. Any promotion or recognition awarded to Jagruti might be thought as an influence of Pritam by other employees. This might further lead to disappointment among the other employees; and also the true efforts of Jagruti might not be recognized and appreciated. This will lead to feeling of resentment from both sides. Similarly, if the relationship ended not in the best-of-terms then many a bad consequences might follow and which surely would divert his attention from other important issues and spent towards solving the issues which could have been prevented had they signed a contract.

Pritam Singh: Being the HR Manager, Pritam was no doubt in an advantageous position. He had power to make or break a career. Had Jagruti refused his advances, then she might have faced problems, because we already know that Pritam Singh had a soft corner for her and it could have hurt his ego. Now, we also know that he was being considered for a promotion as Senior HR Manager. After getting promotion he might have pushed for Jagruti’s promotion or transfer as it would have suited him. Now we don’t know what would have been the outcome but we know he could have made an attempt. Now if we look at the negative aspects, had their relationship ended because of some differences and he was not able to accept it then he might hamper the career growth of Jagruti. In any way there are chances of some actions which the GM HR would not like to face in future.

Jagruti Patel: What we see in the story we feel sorry for her as she is being made the scape-goat for forcing Pritam Singh to sign the contract. But we don’t know what her true intentions are in having this relationship with Pritam. Is she having this relationship to boost her career growth in the company or is she genuinely involved in the relationship? We don’t know what the tears are for. They might be because she is being forced to sign a contract for something which she thought could be just a casual fling to wield out some benefits but now is becoming something serious. Or, they might also be because she really fears that she might lose her job if Pritam Singh refuses to sign the contract. We do feel sad for her because she is being asked to put down her papers and not him because of the respective positions they hold. But this might also help her to get out of unnecessary tangles if the relationship turns sour.

But in the end it can also be said, had the morals and the ethics of the employees been in place and monitored by a code of conduct they might not have faced this situation. It is a story of three individuals but the consequence or how to handle the case if a similar situation arises in a different firm may not be the same always. This all depends on a lot of factor like the position of individuals, their name and fame’ the culture and etc. So responding with a common frame of mind for such situations may not be a standard practice.