{"id":61,"date":"2007-02-07T20:05:47","date_gmt":"2007-02-08T00:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/officepolitics.com\/advice\/?p=61"},"modified":"2007-02-07T20:22:11","modified_gmt":"2007-02-08T00:22:11","slug":"look-what-happened-at-nasa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.officepolitics.com\/advice\/look-what-happened-at-nasa\/","title":{"rendered":"Look What Happened At NASA!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pre-Valentine\u2019s Day Challenger Survey<\/strong><\/p>\n

SURVEY: MORE THAN ONE-THIRD OF COMPANIES HAVE NO OFFICE DATING POLICY<\/p>\n

Workplace romances \u2013 real or imagined \u2013 can be a legal and public relations minefield for any employer. Just ask NASA, which is caught in a bizarre imbroglio as one of its female astronauts allegedly attempted to kidnap a woman whom she believed was a competitor for the affections of a fellow astronaut.<\/p>\n

Despite the pitfalls, 35 percent of employers in a new survey have no formal policy regarding romance between co-workers. The survey conducted among 100 human resource executives one week before Valentine\u2019s Day (February 14) by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., revealed that while many companies discourage such relations, others simply maintain a \u201cdon\u2019t ask, don\u2019t tell\u201d policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdmittedly, a formal policy on workplace romance would have done little for NASA, where it appears that the unrequited affections of one astronaut for another drove her to make some pretty poor decisions. No policy can prevent this type of irrational behavior,\u201d said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, most companies would benefit by spelling out the rules of workplace romance. It would be foolhardy to completely outlaw all romantic associations between co-workers, but companies can prohibit such relationships between supervisors and their subordinates,\u201d said Challenger.<\/p>\n

Forbidding supervisor-subordinate romance was the policy of choice among 45 percent of the companies surveyed by Challenger. Fourteen percent had no policy, but discouraged intra-office romance. Three percent simply turn a blind eye to such matters.<\/p>\n

More companies may be enacting policies as the number of romantically involved workers grows. A recent survey by online career site Vault.com found that nearly 60 percent of workers have been involved in an office romance, up from 46 percent three years ago. Thirty-eight percent of those polled know of an ongoing office romance.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdding a new wrinkle to the workplace romance issue is the growing popularity of social and professional networking sites, such as LinkedIn, MySpace and Friendster, that make the time it takes for an office romance to bud about as fast as your internet connection,\u201d said Challenger.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore workers have access to an increasingly interactive Internet right at their desks. With Web 2.0, as this more collaborative Internet is known, it is easier to foster and hide intra-office relationships.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompanies are probably reluctant to cut off access to social and professional networking sites since many are incorporating them into their business and marketing strategies.\u201d<\/p>\n

MySpace alone has over 100 million users, and it recently introduced a new job-search feature. It makes sense that the corporate world would begin using such software internally for idea sharing, web conferencing and new business development.<\/p>\n

Recently, computer industry giant IBM launched an internal social networking product called Lotus Communications, which will be marketed to companies trying to harness the power of Web 2.0. The software will bring all the attributes of MySpace or Facebook to the office with the main goal of boosting productivity, collaboration and creativity. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs the growing number of singles in the workplace spends more hours on the job, the office replaces health clubs and bars as the primary place to meet new people. Now, the Internet is becoming a rival to the office as the No. 1 social networking location,\u201d said Challenger.<\/p>\n

As evidence of the Internet\u2019s growing prominence in matchmaking, E-harmony, a dating website that has been around since 2000, now has over 12 million registered users. Moreover, recent statistics from Swinburne University in Australia found that Internet affairs have replaced the office romance as the biggest cause of broken relationships. Half the respondents who found a relationship online were involved with someone else at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, with professional networking sites, co-workers in the same office or across the country can meet, share ideas and discuss work as well as non-work-related issues. The constant communication and discovery of their mutual goals and interests could eventually form something beyond a professional relationship,\u201d said Challenger.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile relationships between co-workers seem harmless on the surface, they can present a host of problems for employers. Misinterpreted feelings could result in an unwanted advance, resulting in a harassment lawsuit. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven seemingly minor problems, such as rumors at work or a breakup, could lead to lost productivity and a decrease in morale. If the situation escalates, once-valuable employees could resign their positions due to the uncomfortable work environment,\u201d said Challenger.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proliferation of social networking, blogging and instant messaging adds an entirely new dynamic to the way employees communicate about work and non-work issues. The new technology should be considered when formulating policies regarding workplace romance, harassment, etc.,\u201d recommended Challenger.<\/p>\n

—————————————————-
\nCHALLENGER 2007 OFFICE ROMANCE SURVEY\u00a9<\/strong><\/p>\n

This survey was conducted among 100 human resource executives one week before Valentine\u2019s Day (February 14) by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.<\/p>\n

Does your company have a formal policy regarding office dating?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

45% Allow relationships as long as they are not between supervisor and subordinate. <\/p>\n

35% Do not have a formal policy <\/p>\n

14% Do not have a policy, but such relationships are discouraged<\/p>\n

3% Maintain a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy<\/p>\n

3% Other<\/p>\n

Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.\u00a9<\/p>\n

==========================================================================<\/p>\n

VALENTINE\u2019S DAY BY THE NUMBERS<\/strong><\/p>\n

$119.67 The amount the average consumer will spend on Valentine\u2019s Day in 2007, up from $100.89 in 2006<\/p>\n

$156.22 The average amount expected to be spent by men, nearly double the $85 expected to be spent by women<\/p>\n

$16.9 Billion Estimated spending on Valentine\u2019s Day in 2007<\/p>\n

$2.6 Billion Amount spent on jewelry in the month of February, 2006<\/p>\n

189 Million The number of roses produced for Valentine\u2019s Day in 2006<\/p>\n

Source: National Retail Federation<\/p>\n

CHALLENGER, GRAY & CHRISTMAS, INC. February 7, 2007<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pre-Valentine\u2019s Day Challenger Survey SURVEY: MORE THAN ONE-THIRD OF COMPANIES HAVE NO OFFICE DATING POLICY Workplace romances \u2013 real or imagined \u2013 can be a legal and public relations minefield for any employer. Just ask NASA, which is caught in a bizarre imbroglio as one of its female astronauts allegedly attempted to kidnap a woman […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-office-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.officepolitics.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.officepolitics.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.officepolitics.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.officepolitics.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.officepolitics.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.officepolitics.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.officepolitics.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.officepolitics.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.officepolitics.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}