CARLSBAD, Calif., Feb. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Spend all day, every day with the same group of people, confined in the same office, and it's hard not to consider your co-workers as potential dates, reports CareerCast.com, a national job-search portal.
"When you date a co-worker, you have a partner who completely understands your professional life," says Tony Lee, publisher, CareerCast.com. "However, if it doesn't work out, it can be damaging to your career".
Office romances can start in any number of ways – at a company party, when a group of colleagues meet for happy hour, or even when team members travel together. So if you decide that you just can't resist the office hottie, start by investigating your company's policies on workplace romance. Some employers prohibit office dating, which means you may be forced to change responsibilities or departments or, even worse, get fired. And even if dating is allowed, office romance can lead to water cooler gossip, complaints of favoritism, low morale, damaged peer relationships and claims of sexual harassment after a break-up.
Regardless of how important your office romance may feel succeeding in your career should still come first. The best way to survive an office romance with your career and your reputation intact is to keep quiet, keep smiling and make sure that if it ends, it ends peacefully.
CareerCast.com offers these survival tips:
- Investigate your company's policies on workplace romance before you date colleagues
- Don't display your affection publicly in the workplace
- Keep your IMs and emails clean
- Try to avoid romantic relationships with a peer, boss or supplier, but if you do, make sure you're both discreet
- Be aware of the potential pitfalls of office romance, especially sexual harassment claims
- Understand the potential for retaliation if the relationship ends
- If it ends, make amends and be considerate – you never know when you might meet each other again professionally
To view workplace romance from the perspective of a 20-something, check out our column "Secrets Are No Fun…Unless You're Part of One: The Office Hook Up" on CareerCast.com.
SOURCE CareerCast.com
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