Well what a question to ask me – I married the boss!!! 

If you want to know the full story you will have to book me in for a coffee.  However I still have a professional view on this question, and I would like to think that if you asked any of my colleagues they would say that I/we were nothing but professional when we first got together.

Let’s face it, unless your on Tinder or what ever the other online services are (never used them) its hard to meet that person who could end up being your significant other.  The office is still the #1 place to meet that special someone.  So instead of creating workplace policies that dictate rules and make it tabu lets look at guidelines.

So the question was – Personal relationships in the workplace – yeah or nah?

My answer is a combination of the following 6 things – (all of which we did)

1. Talk with your partner and agree on a plan – this was the very first thing we did, besides Rory living in Sydney at the time,  we needed to decide who we needed to talk to, who to talk to first, and what we would do if we needed to make changes.  For me I said I would resign as Rory was the VP at the time, however global HR found that in terms of hierarchy we were removed enough. Phew! 
2. If your thinking about or have entered into a relationship with a co-worker that you both believe to be leading to something bigger talk to either your HR person, your manager or both.
3. Avoiding nepotism – once you have declared your relationship (preferably prior to) be sure to remove yourself from situations that may give concern to nepotism – like – performance reviews, pay reviews, appointments/promotions – anything that effects the employment of your significant other. If there is no way around this (often the case for SMEs) engage an independent consultant to be part of all of these processes and decisions. 
4. Workplace policies –  check with HR and ensure there isn’t anything that you are in breach of.  Work with them to change things.
5. Stay professional at work –  even if your colleagues have given you the thumbs up you need to tread carefully.  Do not indulge in private jokes or discuss work related matters in front of colleagues that would lead to the perception that you have already made a decision in their absence.  I recommend you have this discussion with your partner – Rory and I both agreed that work matters were not personal, we would disagree on matters and I as the pushy HR lead would continue to challenge him if I felt it wasn’t right for the NZ business. This went a long way to retaining our colleagues trust. 
6. Gossip – there is no avoidance unfortunately. Be prepared for it and stand united, professionally and keep your HR lead in the know, especially if you are working on sensitive matters, you don’t need internal help to derail things!

With help with developing guidelines or managing employment processes where there is no way of avoiding nepotism make contact today for a free no obligations chat.