I have heard of office romances, but what exactly constitute them? Relationship between two co-workers, relationship between supervisor and subordinate, or even the affair between the boss and employee? Or perhaps all go under the same category.
As far as I know, although I may be wrong, most companies frown on office romances, especially if one of them got promoted. If your supervisor happens to be your boyfriend . girlfriend / husband / wife, then there will be complications where appraisal is concerned.
If you get too high a grade with more bonus, the co-workers will say it is favouritism, even if you have been working hard enough to deserve it. But if you get too low a grade, you will find it unfair and then there will be trouble back home.
What my mum’s company does is that once two parties in the same department got together, she will transfer one of them out to another department. And any promotion / appraisal will have to go through her first before any request is acceded. I think that is a good policy and fair to everyone.
I will never be involved with the boss, all the more if he is married. Anyway, most of the other companies I work in have a mostly female environment, and the few guys I came across are either married, too young, too old or just not my type.
Back when I was teaching, there were two teachers who got together. Actually the male teacher came to my school for attachment, and he happened to observe the class of the female teacher. They got together shortly after that, but it was just a coincidence that he got posted back to my school.
Obviously both were happy with the situation, but both tried to keep things under wraps. They did not talk to each other in school except if it is to do with work. Not many people knew at first, but then how long could they keep things under wraps?
I sort of suspected something because the male teacher was the one who took over my class when I was leaving, so he had to observe my methods and often be seen with me as I gave him a crash course in all the administrative matters, duties, handing over of materials and students’ profile. Due to that, I saw the female teacher starring at me a few times before.
After that, I heard from another teacher that she saw both of them holding hands in one of the shopping malls. Then I understood why that teacher became so hostile towards me all of a sudden. But then, did she not have any trust in her boyfriend anyway?
My best friend was involved in an office romance once. One of her ex-boyfriends was her then-supervisor. But it was forbidden in her then-company to be involved in any office romance. So they had to always keep it under wraps.
When they broke up, she still held on, until she finally decided to cut herself away and resign. But she needed the approval of her immediate supervisor, and he refused to approve her resignation notice, until she said she would tender her notice to the big boss himself whether he approved or not.
That is one of the risks of office romances. If both got together and lived happily ever after, things would not be that complicating. If they broke up, then the more heart-broken one would not bear ever going back to work at the same place. Even if he / she remained in the company, chances are he / she may not be able to totally focus especially if the ex would be around. As a result, his / her work performance may deteriorate.
My company is a family business, so all the directors are related to each other whether by blood or marriage. Obviously there are a few couples. But they behave so professionally in the office as they probably know the office is for work, not for anything personal. I wonder how they will take it if some of their employees got hooked up?
But I guess office romances are inevitable sometimes. You see each other day in day out, and probably spend more time with each other than your own family. Some lucky ones do get together. But I guess they just have to be focused and professional enough and not let their relationships or whatever problems that come with it affect their work.
The idea of an office romance itself sounds exciting. But as I have mentioned, being involved in an office romance has a few other factors to consider, even though we are in totally different departments and do not get to work together at all. Most importantly, we have to keep everything under wraps to avoid any rumours, gossip or back-stabbing.
As far as I know, although I may be wrong, most companies frown on office romances, especially if one of them got promoted. If your supervisor happens to be your boyfriend . girlfriend / husband / wife, then there will be complications where appraisal is concerned.
If you get too high a grade with more bonus, the co-workers will say it is favouritism, even if you have been working hard enough to deserve it. But if you get too low a grade, you will find it unfair and then there will be trouble back home.
What my mum’s company does is that once two parties in the same department got together, she will transfer one of them out to another department. And any promotion / appraisal will have to go through her first before any request is acceded. I think that is a good policy and fair to everyone.
I will never be involved with the boss, all the more if he is married. Anyway, most of the other companies I work in have a mostly female environment, and the few guys I came across are either married, too young, too old or just not my type.
Back when I was teaching, there were two teachers who got together. Actually the male teacher came to my school for attachment, and he happened to observe the class of the female teacher. They got together shortly after that, but it was just a coincidence that he got posted back to my school.
Obviously both were happy with the situation, but both tried to keep things under wraps. They did not talk to each other in school except if it is to do with work. Not many people knew at first, but then how long could they keep things under wraps?
I sort of suspected something because the male teacher was the one who took over my class when I was leaving, so he had to observe my methods and often be seen with me as I gave him a crash course in all the administrative matters, duties, handing over of materials and students’ profile. Due to that, I saw the female teacher starring at me a few times before.
After that, I heard from another teacher that she saw both of them holding hands in one of the shopping malls. Then I understood why that teacher became so hostile towards me all of a sudden. But then, did she not have any trust in her boyfriend anyway?
My best friend was involved in an office romance once. One of her ex-boyfriends was her then-supervisor. But it was forbidden in her then-company to be involved in any office romance. So they had to always keep it under wraps.
When they broke up, she still held on, until she finally decided to cut herself away and resign. But she needed the approval of her immediate supervisor, and he refused to approve her resignation notice, until she said she would tender her notice to the big boss himself whether he approved or not.
That is one of the risks of office romances. If both got together and lived happily ever after, things would not be that complicating. If they broke up, then the more heart-broken one would not bear ever going back to work at the same place. Even if he / she remained in the company, chances are he / she may not be able to totally focus especially if the ex would be around. As a result, his / her work performance may deteriorate.
My company is a family business, so all the directors are related to each other whether by blood or marriage. Obviously there are a few couples. But they behave so professionally in the office as they probably know the office is for work, not for anything personal. I wonder how they will take it if some of their employees got hooked up?
But I guess office romances are inevitable sometimes. You see each other day in day out, and probably spend more time with each other than your own family. Some lucky ones do get together. But I guess they just have to be focused and professional enough and not let their relationships or whatever problems that come with it affect their work.
The idea of an office romance itself sounds exciting. But as I have mentioned, being involved in an office romance has a few other factors to consider, even though we are in totally different departments and do not get to work together at all. Most importantly, we have to keep everything under wraps to avoid any rumours, gossip or back-stabbing.
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