Five tips for surviving an office romance
Tue, 14 Aug 2012 | By Rachel DeAlto
As the heat turns up this summer you might be spending more time by the office water cooler. Office flirtations and romance are common — a recent CareerBuilder survey shows that almost 40% of workers have dated a co-worker and of those, 28% dated their boss.
Here are five tips on office flirtations:
- 1. Check the policy — This is a tough economy and it’s hard to find a job. Love is great, but losing your job over it is not. Make sure your company doesn’t have rules against workplace romances.
- 2. Stay professional — Flirting with your co-workers can be exciting and help the day go by in an instant. However, making out at team or office get-togethers, or making your colleagues feel uncomfortable by public displays of affection is never cute.
- 3. Prepare for the worst — While we all would love for every relationship to work out, the truth is they often don’t. Break-ups can be messy, dramatic and awkward around the water cooler. Make sure you both know what you are getting into and try to come to an understanding that you will keep it professional.
- 4. Leave your baggage at home — Do not bring problems in your relationship to work. We often let our personal lives affect our professional lives. However, when you are in an office romance it is even more important to leave personal issues at the door.
- 5. Consider a change — if your workplace flirtation turns into a full-fledged romance and possible marriage, give consideration to whether one of you should find a position outside the company.
Rachel DeAlto is a flirting and communications expert who is dedicated to helping people communicate more effectively.
