Playing with fire without getting burned

This story tells us why companies do not encourage romance at work place. Here Intermediaries Technologies Ltd wants to reduce its liability and wants to stay away in case of a strife between Pritam and Jagruti. An organization is not wrong when they take such a stance since most experts, employment lawyers in particular believe that romantic liaisons at workplace ends up in a lose-lose situation if the people involved are not careful.

At work it is expected that employees should keep a professional relationship and should not display affection in public. The time that is spent on flirting, sending sms and emails back and forth affects work. Here Pritam is an aspiring Senior HR Manager with 8 years of experience and Jagruti is a senior software engineer with 2 years of experience. It is possible that when Jagruti started dating Pritam then many other employees would have the perception that the relationship is fueling her career. This especially would be true if Jagruti is given promotions or onsite assignments that might appear to be the result of favoritism even when she is a competent worker.

If in the future the relationship between them turns sour then Jagruti may be jeopardizing her career as Pritam can find endless ways to make her life miserable at work. Organizations have also witnessed office affairs turning to sexual harassment lawsuits in the past.

So to avoid any future unfavourable incident the GM (HR) wants both of them to sign a love contract.

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Love contract is signed by two employees consensually declaring that the relationship is by consent. Work place romances can sometimes create lot many problems for the organisation – be it accusations of poor judgment, breaches of ethics, favouritism, lost productivity, poor employee morale, sexual harassment claims and even workplace violence. So, it surely creates worries for the HR professionals. But does it mean that love contracts can save the company against litigations of sexual harassment etc. As Sushma has mentioned the answer is a definite “no”. Also, is it justified to believe that if two people are in a romantic relationship harassments can never happen. The answer is surely no. So, it definitely is not an answer to the above problems. But, do the HR people have any other choices to safeguard the company’s interests? Not many.

Sure , is it that love contracts cannot stop litigation problems against the organisation but it can surely minimise them. I suppose that’s the reason why these contracts are becoming popular these days.

There are definitely other ways to solve the above problems - for example counselling the employees involved in romantic relationships. But , again counselling requires time(official time), money and effort on the part of the organisation and the employees. So, love contracts are one of the easy and economic ways to minimise the problems of the organisation in cases of romantic relationships between employees.

Policing office romances

A survey in US has found that 20% of the employees find their life partners in the same office, around 40% respondents admitted to having dated his/her co-worker but surprisingly only 44% of the romances turned into marriages. This means more than 55 out of 100 employees broke up. It will clearly reflect in the performance, productivity and morale of the employees.

There is another angle to this case. Suppose Shahrukh is the supervisor and Kajol reports to him and they are in deep love. This goes on as long as things are fine. One fine day, they break up. Now there are two possibilities - Shahrukh tries cajoling Kajol who in return may file sexual harassment case against him, on the other hand Shahrukh may fire her without cause. In both the cases, who is the victim ? Yes, its the employer who will be held liable by the courts.

In order to prevent such unfortunate outcomes, companies are coming up with Dating and Relationship Agreements. This is to ensure that the employees are in relationship with mutual consent. Generally in most of the cases, it was found that the culprits held a "supervisor-subordinate" relation officially. This relationship may also lead to discontentment among the employees because they may feel that the supervisor is favouring his subordinate just because they are dating.

There is also the issue of PDA(Public Displays of Affection). For instance, in companies like Infosys, its explicitly mentioned in the employee handbook that an employee can file complaint against any incidents of PDA if he/she is not comfortable with it.

What's more important in such cases is the way the management handles such issues. First and foremost, it should document the Dating and Relationship Policy and more importantly, communicate the same when an employee joins the organization. It should clearly state the consequences in case of any violations. I think this is the point where the firm in the given case has gone wrong. Instead of communicating and enforcing the agreement right from day one, it seems there was a "Big Brother" watching over the employees looking for signs of romance and then forcing them to adhere to such agreements which obviously would embarrass them.

Who moved my heart...

I completely agree with my peers that it is a matter of very high importance that any relationships formed within an organisation which adversely affect the performance of the employees in the organisation should be kept in check. Love contracts make sense from that perspective.
But at the same time, it is difficult to gauge the committment of an employee towards the relationship as well as towards the job. It is very much possible that the employee just needs to set his priorities right instead of putting him in chains through a contract, he/she needs some counselling. Moreover, it doesn't serve the purpose by plugging his emotions through just a piece of document. This will at best only decrease both person's efficiency at the workplace.
Moreover now-a-days, there are a lot of firms which promote acquisition of married couples into the organisation. There a host of reasons for allowing such a trend. Both the husband/wife are in same organisation; so they get to spend time during breaks from work; misunderstandings decrease; each of them understand each other's pressure at work. All these factors eliminate any sort of friction in their relationship and further strengthens it. It is an open secret that, "Peace in family life reflects peace at work and vice-versa".
There have been instances in some organisations where married couples are most welcome and ones where this kind of culture is denounced.
For example, Steelcase Inc., based in Michigan has 8000 employees of which there are 300 married couples. Moreover as they are so family-oriented, about 10 to 18% of the employees are either sons or daughters of ex or present employees.
In stark contrast, United Parcel Service believes that there should be no favoritism among employees and everybody should be in same footing. So they discourage these kind of romantic alliances at workplace.
Though considering the case, i feel that ideally the GM(HR) should have had a conversation on the matter individually with each of Pritam and Jagruti and then decide on the future course of action. But justifying his course of action could be that Pritam is in line to get a promotion, so there could be a feeling of envy.This could be a possible reason for the GM not letting Pritam even read the contract before signing on it.
Last but far from least, a general consensus and a personal belief is that, "People do not fall in love; they rise in love"

What is "Love" Contract?

Companies have a policy which states that colleagues in the same department, or (sometimes) in the same functional should not fall into a relationship. The main reason for this policy is that the company is worried that the personal relationship might ruin their professional behavior towards one another. It may be possible that one person reports to the other. Then, this sort of personal commitment only raises the possibility of that person favoring his/ her partner. Also, even though no favoritism takes place, the other members in the team might feel that they are being sidelined. Hence, in order to prevent such issues, the companies form such rules.

But still, relationships do continue to happen. And there have been cases where harassment cases have been filed after break-ups. As we all know, a sexual harassment case spoils the reputation of the company. In such a case, how does the company handle itself? The answer presents itself in the form of a love contract. It is usually signed to solve all the potential troubles that a company may face at the end of a romantic work relationship. The contract requires both the employees (who are in a relationship, and acknowledge it) to sign a document stating that the relationship is by mutual consent.

However, a question that arises is - "Is the company free from future litigation possibilities even with a love contract policy in place?". The answer is an emphatic NO. This is because, a love contract policy, as seen in the case, requires the couple to declare their relationship openly. Pritam and Jagruti had to openly declare their love for each other. There may be people in the organization who are not willing to declare their relationship (for fear of being the center of public gossip, or for fear of being ostracized by the society. It may so happen that the employees may want to keep their relationship a secret from the others due to reasons known only to them). Also, the employees can always argue that they were forced by the company to sign the contract (and hence, the relationship was not by consent). Here, Pritam could always argue that he was forced to sign the document, and without which the GM (HR) had threatened that he would not be promoted and send to Detroit. Hence, we can see that the company can never be free of the litigation possibilities, though it may have the Dating and Relationship policy in place. However, the number of such (litigation) cases might decrease. Also, the presence of such a contract might help in maintaining a functional workplace environment even after the relationship has gone sour. This is because the contract usually specifies the conduct of the employees during and after the relationship.

Basically, as a website defines it, a love contract is a code of conduct that the employees in a relationship have to follow. It is entirely up to the discretion of the employees to sign the contract. The questions that arise are in this particular case are:

1) Why did Intermediaries Technologies link promotion with the contract?

2) Why did it make mandatory for both the employees to sign the document (and in Pritam's case, without even reading the document)?

The answers elude me, maybe further discussion on this topic will help me to clarify my thoughts on this.

Does "Love Contract" make sense?

''We are having a lot of lawyers on our pay roll. Form some more contracts..''

Probably this is what the managers are thinking these days.

There is a quote by Samuel Goldwyn - “A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it is written on."

If we look at the story of Pritam Singh and Jagruti, the question that comes to my mind is 'what was the need of this love contract? We can see that the GM(HR) immediately asked Jagruti to put down her papers when Pritam refused to sign the contract. The GM(HR) could have asked them to put down their papers at any later stage. He could have spoken to them about taking care of their conduct. It could have been a sort of verbal agreement. So why put all that on paper?

I sometimes find it difficult to decide if contracts are ways to scare the employees or it is just a precaution by the company. A love contract policy establishes workplace guidelines for dating or romantically involved coworkers. The purpose of the policy is to limit the liability of an organization in the event that the romantic relationship of the dating couple ends. There have been cases in the past when a person was accused of sexual harassment by a coworker after their relationship had ended. The love contract just declares that the relationship is by mutual consent. This helps the company to wash their hands off in the future in case of any lawsuits being filed against them. I agree that this can be a good precaution measure for the company. But is it justified in interfering in the private matters of the employees? An issue of love being put under legal contract does not sound very convincing.

The company can always instruct the employees that any personal affairs between the employees are not a part of the company’s business, unless and until it affects the workplace. This I believe is already specified to the employees during joining. I don't agree to the views that a love contract will solve the issues of relationship between employees. In case an employee wants to file a complaint, the employees can always claim that they were made to sign the love contract forcefully by threatening their employment. Hence we need to raise the question that “Is love contract a solution?”

Regards,

Varun Agarwal (u109148)

Love Contract...

Pritam Singh received a call from the GM HR of Intermediaries Technologies Ltd for an urgent meeting with him in his chamber. While he was rushing to the office of GM (HR), he squeezed his brain to get the reason for this meeting. Am I going to be fired? Or is it that the long standing promotion is to be announced leading to an onsite opportunity? Unable to decide, he knocked the door of GM(HR) looking through glass pane.


He noticed that somebody was sitting facing the GM(HR). It did not take much time for him to figure out that it was Jagruti. Before he could knock the door, the GM said, “Come in, Pritam… We are waiting for you…” He did not know as how to start the conversation. He mumbled, “Sir, you wanted to meet me, I suppose…”

“Yes Pritam, take your seat. In fact, I wanted to meet both of you. That’s why I called you”

Pritam took the corner seat so as to avoid sitting in the middle seat next to Jagruti. He was unable to decode the purpose of the meeting and looked at Jagruti for answers. But Jagruti was indifferent to his visit and looking at the portrait hanging on the wall.

GM HR looked into his eyes and asked, “Pritam, how long you have been with Intermediaries Technologies?”

“Six years Sir…”

“I hope you are aware that your name is being considered for Senior Manager HR for our Detroit Office?”

“Yes Sir, I heard from my boss…”

“You really want to be promoted?”

Pritam did not know as how to answer.

“Why Sir? Is there any problem?”

GM(HR) did not answer his question but went ahead and said, “if you really want to be promoted, you will have to sign this agreement. Jagruti has already signed it.”

Pritam was bewildered after hearing this statement. He was speechless. As a HR Manager, Pritam had administered many contracts for various employees and got their signature. But he never came across a situation, where two employees were asked to sign on the same agreement.

Pritam asked meekly, “What is this agreement Sir?”

GM(HR) said, “I prefer that you sign the agreement first and read it at your leisure. It’s self explanatory. Or later you can get to know from Jagruti.”

Pritam said, “But Sir, I want to know first as what is there in the agreement before signing it.”

Jagruti was looking into his eyes and sensing from her facial cues, Pritam felt as if she was signaling him to sign the agreement. He could not understand as what was going on.

He said, “Sir, Sorry for questioning you. But I really don’t know what is happening. I feel like you are up for a mind game. If could explain me as what the problem is, we could discuss and resolve. I really don’t know as how my promotion and signing this agreement are related.”

GM (HR) looked at him with a fire in his eyes and said, “So, you don’t want to sign the agreement. Well. Then, we have only one choice left with us.”

Pritam asked, “What is it, Sir?”

“One of you have to resign from Intermediaries Technologies. I prefer Jagruti puts down her paper before Six O’ Clock.”

When he said this, Pritam could see that tears welling up in her eyes and rolled down on the cheeks of Jagruti. He could now understand as why Jagruti was all along silent and could somehow guess the reason for the meeting.

Pritam as a part of HR team has always enjoyed the fun of recruiting people especially the young college graduates. The recruitment team members, including male and female colleagues, always used to comment looking at the photographs of prospective recruits and derive immense happiness about discussing the characteristics of the candidates turned up for interviews.

Two years back, Pritam recruited Jagruti as a senior software engineer and the day he interviewed her along with his colleagues, he felt a kind of rare intimacy with her which he never felt with anybody during his career spanning almost 8 years in field of HR in his previous organization and also here in Intermediaries Technologies. He felt that there was something special with her.

The subsequent interaction with her while facilitating her placement within the organization as a HR manager and during various other occasions, Pritam found that both of them tried to engage in “sweet nothings” sort of conversations. They slowly started exchanging sms, talked over mobile for long hours, bought expensive gifts for birthdays, and hugged each other during office parties shedding inhibitions.

Now sitting in the office of GM(HR), Pritam realized that this meeting was about their personal relationship and could not understand as why the GM(HR) should poke his nose into their affair. Moreover, he wanted to know as what was written in the agreement and why did Jagruti sign the agreement without consulting him.

In an act of jiffy, he picked up the agreement and started glancing through the page. The GM(HR) raised his voice to protest his move, “Pritam, do you know what you are doing?”

Pritam replied, “Wait a minute, Sir. I am not doing any crime. I am just reading to decide whether to sign it or not” and continued to read the agreement. It read,

Dating and Relationship Agreement

We i.e., Pritam Singh (HR Manager) and Jagruti Patel (Senior Software Engineer) employees of Intermediaries Technologies Ltd., hereby acknowledge that we have entered into a romantic relationship.

We understand that Intermediaries Technologies Ltd is an equal opportunity employer committed to a discrimination and / or harassment free workplace. By signing this “Dating and Relationship Agreement” we declare openly and explicitly that ours is a voluntary relationship of mutual consensus and we both of us guarantee that our relationship would not in any slightest possible way affect our performance in our jobs directly or indirectly and promise to avoid any romantic and / or sexual behavior within the organization.

We also assure the management that in no way our reporting relationship would be influenced by personal romantic relationship and we would always strive hard to promote the efficiency and effectiveness of business operations of Intermediaries Technologies Ltd avoiding any possible misunderstanding, moral, ethical, and social problems such as favoritism, nepotism, corruption, sexual harassment etc.,

In case, the management of Intermediaries Technologies Ltd concludes that we fail to adhere to the company code of conduct for employees due to this personal romantic relationship, we understand that it is appropriate and legitimate for the management of Intermediaries Technologies Ltd to take disciplinary action against both of us and discharge either of us or both of us from the services of Intermediaries Technologies Ltd.

………………..

………………………………………….

……………………………………………………….

Signaure: ________________________ (Pritam Sing, HR Manager)

Signature: ________________________ (Jagruti Patel, Senior Software Engineer)