When Love and Work Collide: CareerJournal.com Says Companies Should Set 'Workplace Romance' Ground Rules

When Love and Work Collide: CareerJournal.com Says Companies Should Set 'Workplace Romance' Ground Rules

PRINCETON, N.J., Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Workplace romance can jeopardize your career, according to CareerJournal.com (http://www.careerjournal.com/ ), The Wall Street Journal's executive career site. The majority of human resource professionals and corporate executives agree that workplace romance is something they would avoid personally, yet their organizations typically don't have policies addressing it, reported a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and CareerJournal.com Workplace Romance survey.

In addition to the financial risk of collecting paychecks from the same source, couples who work for the same company may be the subject of office gossip, have conflicts of interest and trouble shifting gears at home, and face uncomfortable situations if there is a breakup.

"Colleagues who are dating should find out their company's policies on workplace romance so they can avoid potentially negative consequences," says Tony Lee, editor in chief and general manager of CareerJournal.com. "Although they may not lose their jobs, employees involved in office romances could be viewed as unprofessional, especially if they publicly display their affection."

Before love and work collide, CareerJournal.com advises:

* Employers should put their workplace romance policies in writing.

* Employers should advise employees of the potential pitfalls of office
romance, especially sexual harassment claims.

* Supervisors should be prohibited from dating subordinates.

* Companies should discourage displays of affection in the workplace.

* Office-cooler sweethearts should understand the potential for
retaliation if the relationship ends.

About CareerJournal.com


CareerJournal.com is The Wall Street Journal's award-winning career site targeted to executives, managers and professionals.

About Dow Jones & Company

Dow Jones (NYSE: DJ; http://www.dowjones.com/ ) publishes the global Wall Street Journal with its international and online editions; Barron's; the Far Eastern Economic Review; Dow Jones Newswires and Indexes; MarketWatch; and Ottaway newspapers. Dow Jones co-owns Factiva with Reuters, SmartMoney with Hearst and CNBC television operations in Asia and Europe with NBC Universal.

Web sites: http://www.CareerJournal.com
http://www.dowjones.com


Source: CareerJournal.com

CONTACT: Beth Brody of Brody Public Relations for CareerJournal.com,
+1-609-397-3737, bebrody@aol.com


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