FSB Author Article
Are Your Co-Workers Hooking Up?
By Nicole Williams,
Author of Girl on Top: Your Guide to
Turning
Dating Rules into Career Success
In case you haven't heard, work is the singles bar of the 21st century. (Just ask David Letterman!) Office hookups are hardly unusual these days. According to one survey, 82% of respondents knew of an illicit romance going on in their office.
Unfortunately, for the rest of us who aren't getting busy in the boardroom, it can be a little awkward. Think your co-workers are hitting the sheets? Here's how to handle it.
Don't think about it. Canoodling co-workers often produces that "Ew, gross!" reaction. After all, your relationship with your co-workers is borderline familial. Yes, you're irritated by their idiosyncrasies, but you love them anyway (right?). Keep your workplace productive by banishing all thoughts of your horny co-workers from your brain. It isn't your business anyway.
Don't fawn over the flirting. It doesn't matter if you have a hunch there's some interoffice shacking up, or if you know for sure it's going on. Either way you should do your best to steer clear of the situation and encourage everyone else to do the same. Don't worry about what your co-workers are doing after 5 p.m. unless it starts to impact a project or job performance.
Don't gossip. It isn't your place to spread rumors about what Tom and Tara are doing after hours. If they decide to come out of the closet with their inter-office relationship, that's great. Until then, don't be the person who is whispering and watching. It just makes you look like you don't have a life.
Don't get involved. Most clandestine office romances crash and burn quickly. Avoid becoming a part of the awkwardness by not getting involved in the first place. This means keeping your distance when your office-mate is baiting you with stories about what she did after the late meeting. After all, you don't really want to know, do you?
Don't tattle. Some companies have policies about "co-worker socializing." In other offices there's no policy, but romance isn't exactly encouraged. Think very carefully before deciding to tell a boss that your co-workers are romantically involved. What's your motivation? Would you be telling the higher-ups simply because you think inter-office romance is wrong and you think they should know about it? Are you expecting some sort of reprimand for the guilty parties? Are you just doing it to be mean? Unless you know that the after-hours romance is affecting work performance, company confidentiality, or the status of a major project, you should probably keep your lips sealed and your nose to the grindstone (then just in case your time comes, you can expect the same in return!).
©2009 Nicole Williams, author of Girl on Top:
Your Guide to
Turning
Dating Rules into Career Success
Author Bio
Nicole Williams, author
of Girl on Top: Your Guide to
Turning
Dating Rules into Career Success, is the best-selling
author of Wildly Sophisticated: A Bold New Attitude for Career
Success and Earn What You're Worth, and the founder of
WORKS by Nicole Williams, the first media and content company marketed
toward young professional women. Her advice is featured regularly in
major media outlets including Elle, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Marie
Claire, the Wall Street Journal, and the Financial
Times. Nicole
also regularly appears on The Today Show, ABC's Primetime,
Good Morning America,
Fox News, and CNN.
You can visit Nicole's websites at www.NicoleWilliams.com and www.GirlOnTopBook.com.