Sex and the workplace

While Lisa Rundle has slapped a case of sexual harassment against David Davidar, former CEO of Penguin-Toronto, Davidar has confessed to a “consensual, flirtatious relationship” with his former colleague. Now, whether Rundle is telling the truth or Davidar is clean is hard to tell. But, could the company have done something to avoid such an incident in the first place is the big question.

“If you talk about what companies can do, legally, as far as curbing office romances is concerned, the answer is nothing. They can issue guidelines on what the office policies are as far as romantic relationships between co-workers are concerned, but legally there is nothing they can do, unlike in cases of sexual harassment, for which there are laws set down by the country’s courts and which can be invoked to deal with offenders,” says Priya Chetty-Rajagopal, vice president, Stantonchase.

“As far as setting the rules and boundaries on relationships between co-workers is concerned, one can look at them as parallel to, say, dress codes. And just as different companies have different levels of strictness about dress codes, rules for relationships also have varying degrees.”

Surabhi Mathur, VP, Teamlease, seconds that. She says, “HR usually turns a blind eye to such occurrences, as most firms do not have formal policies or guidelines laid down for courtship norms.” She adds, “Unless there is a case of harassment or performance/ discipline deviation due to such workplace relationships, they are usually not actioned upon.

” When asked whether having policies and guidelines help, Mathur said, “Though framing a policy and defining the expectations — at the same time clearly communicating the consequences of deviation — sets the tone and attitude towards such occurrences, these incidents are bound to occur. After all, human beings are complex, emotional individuals and there are bound to be such attractions.”

There are several factors that can lead one into having an affair with someone at the workplace — “spending long hours in close proximity with the opposite gender is leading to workplace romances and affairs; and it is not just the singles who are ready to mingle”, Mathur points out. She adds that a reduced formal workplace environment with  enhanced social and interpersonal interactions amongst employees increases the cohesiveness between individuals.

While relationships at the workplace are a common phenomenon today, office sex can still raise many eyebrows, especially if it’s of the boss-subordinate type. “Unnecessary favouritism, biased performance evaluations, preferences and leniencies extended to employees, wastage of time and resources, lowered work productivity are some of the possible outcomes,” says Mathur. 

Agreeing with Mathur, Vivek Subramaniam, vice president, HR, Emids Technology, feels that affairs between bosses and subordinates “should not be encouraged” as it can affect the work dynamics in many ways. However, he also says that taking action
like shifting departments is not practically possible in most cases.

“Unless the two having the affair agree to it, it’s difficult to prove it. So, if in the course of work, a team leader gets into an affair with his or her sub, companies can think of ways to deal with it only as long as they are transparent about it,” he says.

“As far as controlling affairs at the workplace altogether is concerned, it’s not possible. Working professionals are old enough to decide what’s best for them and the organisation is nobody to interfere. As long as the work is not affected and employees maintain the decorum of the office and are also aware of their boundaries, we have nothing to worry about.”

About this, Rajagopal feels that, “Relationships between co-workers or supervisors and team members are probably not a big deal if there is a sufficient level of transparency in the performance evaluation systems. They should not leave any scope for doubt that anyone is being favoured over other team members. I’ve noticed that some people don’t like to be in such a situation themselves and opt to get out of teams if they get involved with someone in a senior position, because they don’t want people to doubt their achievements.”

On the other hand, talking about the employees, a recent survey conducted by Teamlease found that ‘56% polled feel organisations should not interfere in romantic involvement between employees’. When asked to comment on this, Mathur says, “While we cannot justify being moral police within the work environment, it is a primary responsibility of the organisation to provide a fair, safe, unbiased and comfortable work environment. Work relationships run the risk of leading to interpersonal differences, performance deviations, disciplinary concerns, biases and general lowered employee morale. It is the HR department’s responsibility to ensure such effects do not filter into the work culture.”

While affairs at the workplace are nothing more than juicy gossip and water-cooler conversations for most organisations, for Titan they mean much more. “In the year 1987, there were a lot of people getting into affairs with colleagues in the manufacturing department. Our company didn’t have any problem with the same, in fact, we played a significant part in facilitating marriages between them as most were inter-caste weddings,” says S Ramadoss, chief HR officer, Titan Industries, Bangalore. He adds,

“However, we have a strict sexual harassment policy to avoid any unpleasant happenings.”