Hats off to those nice people who make Love Hearts sweets. Just ahead of St Valentine’s Day they’ve come up with some findings that address the potentially explosive issue of personal relationships in the workplace.
According to a story in the Business section of today’s ‘Telegraph’ the Swizzels Matlow factory in the north Derbyshire town of New Mills is ‘a hotbed of amorous liaisons it would seem.’
As someone not unacquainted with the otherwise unremarkable New Mills and with the factory’s output of treats such as Drumstick lollies and Refreshers I am a little surprised. Nevertheless the company says that 122 of its 500 workers are in relationships with colleagues.
While some organisations frown on their employees getting too close, it seems that in a factory churning out sweets with phrases on them such as ‘Be Mine’ and ‘Kiss Me’ then there is no problem at all with staff getting up close and personal.
That’s in stark contrast to a pre-Valentine’s Day story in Personnel Today a couple of years ago. Under the title ‘Love is in the air: managing relationships in the workplace’, the article by Charles Pigott looked at the potential pitfalls of staff having relationships with colleagues.
As Pigott said, when things go wrong at best it becomes difficult for former lovers to continue to have a professional relationship at work, and at worst, it can lead to mutual recriminations and allegations of harassment for which the employer may be liable.
While he points out that a complete ban is unworkable, one solution he airs is to impose an obligation on all workers to tell their employer if they form an intimate relationship with a colleague.
I have mixed feelings about all of this. I’ve been in workplaces where two colleagues have been in a relationship but have kept it from everyone else. But I’ve also been in workplaces where the two people concerned have made their relationship all too public – sometimes embarrassing colleagues.
I don’t want to be a St Valentines kill-joy. I’d like to think that if two consenting adults form a liaison at work then that is their business – provided they don’t spend too long in the stationery cupboard.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
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