Sex with Co-Workers, “Can you keep it a secret?”
Plenty of very successful romantic relationships began in the workplace. As humans, it is often impossible to avoid the attraction. Challenges arise when one or both are in leadership positions or work long hours together. However satisfying it may be at the moment, it is potentially dangerous and destructive to get into workplace relationships with staff, co-workers and especially with employees. Both parties involved must make an ethical and respectful decision about their relationship and its effect on office culture.
The office culture is jeapordized when co-workers are aware of the relationship. Co-workers can also legally file sexual harassment suites when they feel their work environment is threaten. Certain gestures, body lanugae, and non-verbal communication can lead from your work office to the unemployment office. It’s “virtually” impossible to leave our co-workers in the dark and not leave bread crump trails when our co-workers are our Facebook friends, twitter followers, and connected in our LinkedIn networks.
As a leader, your top ethical solution should be to never mix business with pleasure in the office. At all times leadership should avoid sexual relationships with their staff and employees. It exposes a person to potential litigation, sexual harassment charges, wrongful termination suits, scandals, and destroys organizational morale.
When women or men find themselves in a position of attraction to either employees or staff they should remove themselves from the working environment.
Starting a relationship is one situation. Studies show that the workplace is the most common place to meet a new potiential partner. But what happens when things heat up in the office and partners can’t wait to make it to the close of business? Workaholics logging long hours, particularly those working 12- to 18-hour days, are the highest at risk to actually having sex at the office. “Sex is a touchy subject and it’s awkward to talk about,” says Jennifer Crittenden, an alumna of Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and author of The Discreet Guide for Executive Women: How to Work Well with Men (and Other Difficulties) (Whistling Rabbit Press, February 2012). “Women are entering the workforce unprepared and when they arrive, they make career-ruining decisions.”
Therefore, the general consensus is that you can not keep your romantic relationship at work a secret.
So what do you do when the heat in your pants matchs the heat index outside. The number one way to avoid getting into a difficult situation during work hours is to distance yourself from that person during work hours. Appoint another staff member over the project, set physical boundaries, distance oneself from one on one contact, especially for long periods of time. Don’t ever make the mistake that no one will find out. Even if you’re the head of U.S. intelligence—and perhaps your boss will never notice because he’s the president of the U.S. during an election year, they will know. One man’s fall from fame is proof that people will find out. In my research I found several avenues employers use to reveal workplace affairs. So people, no matter what; Don’t put it in writing. All cheating affairs I uncovered were discovered because of a digital paper trail.
If both parties want to continue their consensual relationship, one of the two parties involved (especially if it is a boss / employee relationship) should seriously consider leaving the department or organization.