Are you considering an office romance? You’re not alone. Many co-workers consider it, but should you go through with it? It’s no wonder why office romances are so attractive. You spend nearly your entire day with your co-workers and when you throw sexual tension into the mix, it can make for one exciting time. Just the thought of getting intimate with your co-worker in a supply closet or on the boss’s desk is enough to make anyone hot under the collar. However, you might want to keep from dipping your pen in company ink, or for allowing a company pen to dip into your – you get the idea. Here are seven reasons why office romances rarely work.
- Feeds Office Gossip: Most offices are a hotbed of gossip. Don’t feed the monster. Once you and your co-worker start dating, your romance will likely be the talk of the office. If you are going to date, make sure you keep it to yourselves.
- Power Struggle: Are you considering dating a subordinate or maybe your boss? What’s going to happen when you are forced to discipline that subordinate for any reason or what will happen when your boss has to discipline you? The higher ups may not like the fact that romance has clouded their management’s judgment.
- Playing Favorites: Not only is there often a power struggle when office romances begin, but other coworkers may accuse you or the other person of playing favorites. If you date your boss and your boss starts giving you praise and a raise, it’s going to look fishy to other coworkers who may have been as qualified or more qualified than you.
- Office Quarrels: Even the happiest couples fight. Arguing is part of engaging in a healthy relationship. What’s going to happen when your date and you start fighting about anything at all and that fight suddenly spills into your work environment? That’s when things can get hairy and both of your jobs could be in jeopardy if things get really out of hand.
- Breakups: Even if you think that you won’t break up in the future, anything can happen. You and your co-worker/date may find that you are better off apart in a few months. Hopefully the breakup is an amicable one. If it’s not, get ready for some office drama.
- Jealousy: Some co-workers like to flirt. What happens when someone flirts with you or someone flirts with your date? Or what happens when you find out that your co-worker date is also dating other people? Jealousy can turn a work environment into a chaotic one rather quickly. Make sure you and the other person have a handle on your emotions and the true state of the relationship to avoid jealousy rearing its ugly head.
- You See Each Other Too Often: You spend all day with your co-worker and now you want to spend the day and evenings with them? And eventually you want to start spending the night, too? That’s a lot of exposure. Before you jump into an office romance, make sure you’re not going to get sick of this person early on. Once you start dating and you find that you don’t want to date that person anymore, you’re going to find yourself in a very sticky situation.
If you’re thinking about starting an office romance, remember the above advice and consider the situation carefully before you dive into any situation you can’t quickly or easily get out of.