Valentine's Day: How to ensure office romances don't turn into HR nightmares

Valentine’s Day may be an annual celebration of love, but employers need to tread carefully to avoid getting stung by the thorns.

That is according to Donald MacKinnon, Director of Legal Services at Law At Work. Speaking exclusively to HR Grapevine, he says: “About a third of relationships start at work and, sooner or later, any reasonably-sized company will have to deal with staff having illicit or licit relationships at work.

“In the normal cause of events, you hope that everything resolves itself, but considering what the nature of human relationships and their complexities are, it can cause issues in terms of how other staff perceive it or if it all goes sour or if one partner is more enthusiastic than the other. That’s when it can tip over to something offensive and unwanted.”

MacKinnon explains that, while employers may “trust their employees to behave professionally”, there is always a risk that they won’t.  That is why he advises employers to put a policy or a code of conduct in place so it is clear how office romances should be dealt with.